The PentacleHouse case
by JRush
Summary: WOOT! It's finished! Please feel free to R&R. Takes place pre-changes possible spoilers for everything pre-changes.  Harry get's a magazine in the mail and an article in the Forum section is highlighted...
1. Chapter 1

It was a slow day and I sat in my office with my feet on my desk, my duster hanging lazily over the back of my chair and Mouse, a full grown two hundred pound Tibetan temple dog, my own personal wooly mammoth, was laying on a rug in the corner of the office taking up most of the space. The late afternoon sun gave his brown and gray fur golden highlights. I had gone through my mail, made a pot of coffee and had started writing a new brochure entitled, "Wizards, why they're grumpy." After the second paragraph I came down with a terrible case of writers block and decided to take a break. With my daily mail a new publication arrived in a manila envelope with no return address but it had a Chicago post mark so it was from someone close by. Someone in the paranet obviously felt I needed to have this invaluable source of information so I decided to take a look. PentacleHouse was splayed across the top front cover and beneath the heading there was a young woman dressed in a skimpy medieval costume in a typical seductive pose.

I flipped through the magazine and there were articles on various traditions of magic, philosophy of magic and essays on magic theory and the origins of magic with pictorials interspersed that went from PG to R for the article entitled, "How to be properly skyclad", Skyclad being the term used by those in mystical circles for performing magic in the nude. Don't get all puritanical on me. There is a proper time and place for this sort of thing, mostly in ritual magic. Fortunately for me the magic I toss around doesn't care what you're wearing. Most of the articles were anywhere from a little off to way out in left field.

I started to wonder if this was a joke or if there was actually something that I needed to pay attention to. Then I noticed a dog-eared page in the back. See I'm a detective, we notice these things. I flipped the magazine to the marked page. It was in the middle of the forums section. One entries title had been highlighted. "Spooky in Chicago" read the title in bold italic letters. The entry was attributed to someone named Ghost Charmer. "Dear PentacleHouse, I never thought this would happen to me!" the article started out. Sheesh, I wasn't sure if I wanted keep reading or toss it into the trash, but morbid curiosity kept me reading, and it's not like I had a lot on my plate today anyway so I had some time to kill. The article went on to explain, in excruciating detail, how this practitioner, of obviously limited knowledge and power, had managed to contact a spirit and was given very specific information about his present situation with his boss at work. The spirit was of a person who had died in the last few years the writer explained, the spirit gave him information he could use to leverage his boss and get promoted into another department. The whole thing sounded a little fishy to me. The type of spirit that would hang around and gather information and interact with the mortal world is usually a spirit of air, intellect or another element and they are usually fairly powerful and hard to contact. If you do contact them and aren't properly prepared with the right offerings etc., they usually leave you in little scraps for the mice to eat. As for human spirits as this one claimed to be, once someone dies, they go where their supposed to, don't ask me where but they don't simply hang around giving out information like vending machines. Ghosts are little more than a mental impression of the person who left it. It may look like them, act like them but in reality they are no longer around and the apparition is simply a reflection of them powered by psychic energy the person left in their environment. Also ghosts or spooks usually have a specific reason for being there, unfinished business, revenge, regrets they felt at the time of their death, and they usually have a specific purpose. Ghosts don't normally run around eavesdropping on peoples bosses. So if this article wasn't completely made up, then the person didn't know what they were dealing with.

The story went on to say that they had been given a ritual that would help them to expand their mind and powers, ya right, but that to do it they needed to go to a sacred place in the underground of Chicago. Hells bells, something was trying to lure this person into undertown. Undertown is a place that is dark, dank, musty, and scary. It is home to many cruel and dangerous things that are best left underground and away from the light and that's it good qualities. I had been to undertown on a few occasions and had run into maniacs and demons that tried to kill me, monsters that tried to eat me and even an entrance to a fairy court of winter and that didn't begin to count the black court vampires, ghouls and unspeakable things that lurk safely in the darkness under one of the nation's largest cities.

This was starting to make a lot more sense. The article did list briefly where they had been instructed to go, which is good since there are a few ways to get into undertown and those are the few I know about. I'm sure that the monsters that slink up into the city at night to feed know a lot more ways in and out then I do. Fortunate for me I knew the one this person was going to use. Now I just had to figure out who it was and when they were going if they hadn't already marched blithely to their demise and talk sense to them.

"Mouse, we've got work to do!" I said as I pulled my legs off my desk letting my chair fall forward with a dull thud. Mouse looked at me with a doggy smile and raised his head knowing that this would give him a chance to stretch his long hairy legs and maybe even find a nice patch of grass.

The blue beetle's engine coughed and sputtered to a stop a few seconds after I had taken the key out of the ignition. It wasn't new or shiny or even particularly pretty to look at but hey, it's paid for and it's mine. That and we'd been through a lot together ramming walking tree monsters and running away from trouble. That and wizards tend to have problems with technology, anything build after the forties tended to break down with prolonged exposure to a wizards presence. Something about the mystical power we carry about us can short out a cell phone or computer in anywhere from five minuets to half an hour if we aren't actively using our powers or upset. I once fried a computer from six feet away simply by walking past it in a rather bad mood. I looked back fondly at my little car as I walked across the alley.

I walked into McNally's pub and stopped to take note of who was hanging around. McNally's pub was a local hang out for the mystical community, there were thirteen tables and thirteen carved wooden columns arranged seemingly at random about the room, this was to help breakup and disperse the residual energies that the patrons may inadvertently bring into the place. There were some of the locals of the mystical community from around town I recognized, a group of young women, part of a coven, in one of the back booths talking quietly, two older men in a far corner playing chess at a table and a couple who were obviously more interested in each other eyes than anything going on around them held hands across their table as they spoke in hushed tones, laughing and giggling in short secretive bursts.

Mac was behind the bar wearing his black slacks, white shirt and white apron all immaculately clean. He was pouring a drink for someone I didn't recognize. She was tall with legs that were as long as a country road and her skirt was just tight enough to let me know that she was in good shape. Her white starched blouse tucked neatly in the waistline was accented by a silver belt. Her hair fell past her shoulders in a cascade of dark silken curls. Her short sleeves showed toned muscle and tanned skin. Mac nodded at me as Mouse found a quiet spot near the door and lay down.

I walked over to the bar and tapped my fingers on the smooth polished wood flashing Mac a quick smile. True to form he already had one of his dark ales in his hands and was removing the top as he sat it in front of me.

"Are you Harry Dresden?" came the smooth silky voice from beside me.

"That depends, who's asking?" I replied as I gave her a sideway glance. Her brows were arced and her lips were full, dark red and rising at the edges into a coy smile. Her brown eyes gave me the once over as she turned to face me. She must have been in her early thirties, smile lines just visible at the corners of her round brown eyes.

"Camilla Dawson, I'm looking for a little help off the books and I hear that you are the person to talk to for this type of matter." She purred. She leaned against the bar that made her blouse do interesting things as she leaned towards me. "So are you the man I'm looking for or shall I go elsewhere?" she asked.

"Lady, I don't know what you've heard about me but off the books discrete makes it sound like you're looking for a thug and not an investigator. I don't do that sort of work." I scowled slightly as I glanced at her large brown eyes and high cheek bones. She wasn't unearthly beautiful but as mortals go she was a strong eight. I kept my face firm and straight as my subconscious started filling my head with possible scenarios that included whipped cream, chocolate sauce and her. I firmly pushed these images into the back of my mind trying to keep it on the business at hand.

"Nothing like that I assure you Mr. Dresden, can talk someplace a little more private?" she asked giving me another smile that implied that it would be worth my while. I directed her to an empty table in a back corner and followed her over with my ale in hand. Her hips had a casual swing to them that was too smooth and easy to be natural. When we got to the table I pulled out her chair, she sat crossing her legs making her skirt slip up to show her knee. I circled the table and took a seat directly across from her but also with my back to the wall, facing the front door in case a jealous husband or boyfriend should come charging in. It may seem paranoid but in my line of work, it happens a lot more than you'd think.

"So Ms. Dawson, what brings you out tonight?" I asked in a matter of fact tone.

"I'm looking for something and I'm told that you are the best around at locating things that are lost or hidden. I'm willing to pay you handsomely." She said in a low tone, pulling out a very full envelope with the corners of a few hundred dollar bills sticking out one end. She laid the envelope on the table and folded her hands on top of it looking for my reaction. I'm really not that into money, but my car does need some repairs and I could actually pay Michael, a contractor and ex-fist of God, to come over with his crew and put in a real security door, properly reinforced and still pay my rent for the rest of the year with the kind of money she had under her hands.

I glanced at her hands and back at her face with a cool, unimpressed tilt of my head. "So what is it exactly you are looking for?" I asked.

"It's an heirloom that was last owned by my grandmother. After her death it went missing and wasn't listed as part of her estate. It's a necklace that has been in our family for many generations and it's important to me. It's nothing of great value, a silver chain with a medallion attached but like I said it was my grandmothers and she was supposed to pass it down to my mother and her to me. Unfortunately my mother and grandmother had a falling out when I was young and they never had much contact after that. I used to spend summers with my grandmother and it would mean a lot to me to have it back." Her words stumbled towards the end, her eyes becoming glassy, her face twisting in sorrow.

"Do you have a picture of the necklace?" I asked and she produced another envelope from her purse, this one was manila and was sealed with tape. She broke the seal and pulled out an aged black and white photo showing an elderly woman smiling and hugging a child from behind. Around her neck glittered thin silver chain with a silver medallion, roughly the size of a silver dollar. Even with many years gone by I could tell the little girl in the picture was the woman sitting across from me. She pulled out a second photo, this one much newer and it was an enhanced image of the medallion in the picture. The medallion was in the form of a Celtic knot with a circle in the middle and in the circle was a pentagram.

"Do you know where your family came by this necklace?" I asked calmly, my interest piqued. Something in the back of my head was rustling, a distant memory, I'd seen this before but couldn't remember where.

"Nobody knows, it's been in the family as long as anyone can remember." She said.

"You grandmother was its last rightful owner, is that correct?" I asked.

"Yes, and I have something that may help you to find it," she said reaching back into her purse and pulling out an old hair brush. It was made of silver and was of fine craftsmanship, "I thought you might ask for something of hers." She said as she put the brush on the table. "Will you help me Mr. Dresden?" she asked in a little girl lost sort of voice. The damsel in distress, at least this time she's not being chased by a demon or threatened by a warlock. I did the math in my head, low risk, find the medallion, get a big pay day and help out a beautiful woman whose not wearing any rings. On second look, she wasn't wearing any jewelry at all.

"So why all the secrecy?" I asked thumbing through the pictures.

"I'm not the only heir, I have a cousin but I doubt she cares about this necklace as my grandmother had a sizeable estate when she passed. I just don't want this to turn into a family fight and tarnish our memories of my grandmother." She said giving me a flat smile.

"I'll do what I can. Is there a number I can reach you at if I find it or have any further questions?" I asked.

"You can reach me here," she said as she slipped a folded piece of paper into my hand. I felt a cool breeze wash over my hand and a slight tingling sensation that went up to my elbow as she touched my hand. She was a practitioner of no small gift. Her eyes widened and she quickly pulled her hand away from mine. She looked genuinely surprised. Once she regained her composure she continued, "If I'm not in, leave me a message and I'll call you back as soon as I can."

"This isn't your cell phone?" I asked probing.

"No, I choose not to carry one of those, they are annoying and I can never seem to have one last more than a few days before they die." She said with genuine annoyance.

"They don't like me either." I replied smugly. "I'm working another case but I don't expect this to take me too long, so I should get back to you either way in a day or so."

"That will be fine Mr. Dresden. I'm in town through next week tying up some loose ends of her estate." She suddenly looked very tired. She gave me an honest but weak smile and got up to leave.

"Ms. Dawson," I asked as she was turning to go, "just out of curiosity, what do you do for a living?"

"I'm an artist." She replied stopping to give me a quizzical look. "Why?"

"No reason," I said, "just wondering."

She walked over to the bar and thanked Mac and gave Mouse a wide berth on her way out the door. Mouse sniffed and gave her wary look as he raised his head and watched her climb the few stairs out of Mac's place.

"Interesting," I said to myself as I pulled the envelopes over to my side of the table. The first envelope, on quick inspection was in fact full of hundreds and the second one had a few other pictures besides the ones she had shown me along with some papers. I put the pictures back and stuffed the envelopes and hair brush into my dusters pockets and finished my ale. The ale was one of Mac's new summer ales and it was very smooth as it rolled down my throat making my taste buds sing with delight.

I wandered over to the group of young women in the corner booth. Their coven was part of the paranet and they just might know who the Ghost Charmer is or might be able to point me in the direction of someone who was working this sort of magic. They noticed me coming as I approached their table and the idle chatter stopped as they turned their attention to me.

"Hello ladies, may I join you?" I asked as I pulled up a chair.

"Of course, Warden Dresden, what can we do for you?" asked an especially perky blonde sitting at the very back of the booth, probably the leader of the group. She looked serious and maybe a little nervous. I sat down at the other end of the table in the walk way between the tables and scooted close enough to rest my hands palms down on the table. I let the slightly uncomfortable silence linger as I looked around the group. If they were nervous I wanted to know why.

"Ladies, tell me, have you noticed anything out of the ordinary lately?" I asked mysteriously. A vague open ended question is a great way to get peoples subconscious to start spilling secrets.

"Um, like what?" asked the redhead closest to me, her eyes not meeting mine as she examined the condiments on the table, then lifting her head with a curious smile looking me in the face. I did get the slight tingling feeling as I extended my senses. One or two of these girls had some slight talent but nothing major. However in concert they could have the juice to power some rudimentary spells if they all worked together. What I didn't feel was the cold, prickly feeling of a warlock. Whatever these girls were up to may not be totally on the up and up but I didn't feel any malevolence in the group.

"I'm looking for a practitioner in the area who calls themselves Ghost Charmer. I'm afraid they may be in danger and need to find them." I said and the reply was a short burst of giggles.

"You read PentacleHose, Mr. Dresden?" asked the brunette to my left with a hint of a giggle in her voice, her cheeks turning scarlet. The girls giving each other quick gleeful glances then turned sheepishly to me.

"Someone sent me a copy of this month's issue and marked that specific entry. I must say, I wouldn't read it for the articles." I said feeling a little defensive, and then caught the taste of foot in my mouth as another round of giggles went around the table. "It looks like whatever this person has gotten mixed up in isn't being straight with them and is leading them into trouble. So ask again, do you know who this Ghost Charmer person is or not?" I finished letting some irritation slip into my voice at the end.

They exchanged glances, then nervous glances. Finally the redhead to my right, a slender and petite thing all of maybe 100 pounds soaking wet with a slight but shapely figure spoke first. "We know who sent the article warden. I have to ask, are they in trouble with the council? You being a Warden and all, I'm just worried." She said, her brows knitting and making her forehead wrinkle a little, but somehow in a very endearing way.

"Not that I'm aware of, from what I've read they haven't broken any laws, but they also don't understand what they are mixed up with. This may very well be a life or death situation girls and you do have a good reason to be worried. I can help them if you help me find them." I said giving them each a level look in turn.

"We can't tell him! We took a sacred oath not to divulge the identities of those in our circle." The perky blond in the back of the booth said, her jaw set firmly. The other girls looked from one to another and turned to me and their leader at the end of the table. This was great, a vow of secrecy, it isn't uncommon but it's also not usually binding. However, if they had taken the oath as part of a ritual, they may have had enough power in the circle to actually give this some teeth.

"What did you swear by when you took the oath?" I asked seriously.

"We swore by our powers and our beauty." The brunette on my left said, her eyes downcast as if embarrassed, her hair falling to cover the sides of her face. She was tall maybe 5' 8" and well proportioned, wore a black halter top and white shorts that showed enough leg to give the young men ideas and make them love the summer months.

"Okay then," I said, "Don't give me any names." I said offering a way to keep their vow and get me to this person at the same time. "Call her and have her come down here to meet us. That way we are all safe and nobody compromises their vows." I finished with an encouraging look.

"Bringing her here would work, wouldn't it Shelly?" asked the redhead looking at the blond in the back.

"I suppose that would work." Replied the blond, with a look of satisfaction on her face. "Debbie, you have her number, why don't you give her a call and tell her we need to talk to her and Mr. Dresden is buying us a round." She finished with a sly smile directed my way. I was stuck, I was asking for their help and if it only cost me a round of drinks to save a life, then I suppose that's what I'd have to do.

"Fine, just go call her now please." I told the redhead as she got up to go make the call. I waved at Mac and motioned a circle at the table indicating they were ready for a new round of drinks.


	2. Chapter 2

Mac arrived with our drinks and the girls started chatting among themselves about various topics. Soon they were discussing a spell they wanted to try and asking me rapid fire questions about the finer aspects of spellcraft and how to properly focus a location spell, which I knew off the top of my head, then how to heal an injured friend.

I explained to them that healing was not my particular brand of magic and that it was incredibly difficult and intricate work to do. Mending a broken branch on a tree for example is beyond my abilities. Not because I didn't have the power, instead because you have to know exactly how what you are trying to affect works, then direct the magic to get the right kinds of cells to either adhere to one another or rush to the spot or whatever a tree does when healing itself. Not being all that knowledgeable about the inner workings of a tree, I wouldn't be able to do much more than imagine the tree whole and that is the outcome not the effect you are desiring and that would cause your spell to go out of control or simply fizzle. Trying to do the same for a human being brings up many more obstacles, not only would you need to have intimate knowledge of the procedure you are trying to accomplish, with a human you have free will to consider so you need to be sure that you not only have that persons permission to help them but you need to be sure that they truly want to be healed. It sounds crazy but if someone is hurt and is enjoying all the attention and you come in from out of the blue and heal them and take away the caring and attention then you have done them a disservice. Like I said it's complicated, really, really complicated. I suggested that they simply take the friend to a doctor or take turns tending them while they are sick as it would help lift their spirits and probably help speed their recovery. Laughter, friends and goodwill all carry a type of magic all their own and help make positive impacts. I'm sure that if they honestly wanted to that these five girls could make a significant impact on their friend's recovery just by being there for them. Sometimes it's the simple things that carry the most power.

As the conversation started to turn to other aspects of magic, Debbie returned with a worried look on her face. She had tried calling her friend and her cell was going straight to voice mail and she wasn't at work and her parents hadn't seen her since the night before. This didn't sound good.

As I said before, healing or any sort of subtle magic isn't my forte, but tracking spells I happen to specialize in. I talked to the girls and had each head off to a different friend, hangout or other place where the still unnamed young lady might be. Meanwhile Debbie and I were going to head over to her apartment and see what we could find, hopefully get a strand of hair or something of hers to use to track her with.

Mouse slunk into the back seat of the car, noticeably lowering the rear suspension, and then Debbie and I climbed into the Blue Beetle and headed off into the late afternoon, the sun touching the horizon. It was still hot out and the pavement tended to hold the heat as we pulled out into the tail end of rush hour traffic. We drove with the windows down, Mouse tried to poke his massive head out the passenger side window behind Debbie's elbow but finally gave up and simply sat up letting the wind blow in his face from the back seat with his tongue hanging out and a blissful look on his face.

Debbie directed me to a less affluent part of town but still in a decent neighborhood that held a lot of apartment buildings and a few older homes here and there. It took us almost half an hour with traffic to get there by the time we came to a stop in front of an older but well maintained building. It was a large rectangular building with three floors of apartment homes. As we approached the building I asked Debbie what apartment her friend lived in, 204 she replied. I stopped and looked at the large block of mail boxes inside the open entry area of the building. The last golden rays of the setting sun shone through the glass door lighting the bank of mailboxes, "204 Abbey Cowen" read the name plate on the mail box.

"So Abbey is Ghost Charmer?" I asked.

"If you say so Mr. Dresden," Debbie said with an affirming smile and a slight nod as she reached down to scratch Mouse behind the ears. Now I had a name, it wouldn't help with a tracking spells but it was a place to start. We climbed the stairs to the second floor and walked down to Abbey's apartment. The door was slightly ajar, so I pulled Debbie behind me and off to one side. Mouse, who had dutifully followed us, let out a low growl form deep in his chest as he moved between me and the door. This really wasn't a good sign. I held up my hand for Debbie to stay put and reached under my heavy leather duster to pull my blasting rod from inside. I pushed my will into the rod and also into my shield bracelet, bringing them to the ready in case something nasty was waiting for us inside.

I stepped in front of the door with Mouse to one side and leveled my blasting rod and shoved the door frimly with my foot. The door started to fly open, then about half way open hit something with a dull thud, and slammed shut. Mouse looked up with a less than impressed look on his face and turned to the door again. So much for the element of surprise, I thought as I pushed the door with my foot more gently this time and it swung halfway opened and stopped. I stepped forward turning to face the exposed interior of the apartment and could see that the door frame had been broken the latch that held the door shut had been torn off. I could see one wall and a hallway that must have lead back to the bedrooms and the bottom of a recliner that was blocking the door. I listened and could hear salsa music from the tenants down stairs and a baby crying somewhere on this floor but no sound came from Abbeys apartment. I slowly stepped inside the door turning my body and blasting rod in a slow arc as I entered to survey the front room of the apartment.

The furniture was overturned and it was obvious that there had been a struggle here. The glass coffee table lay in shards on the carpet, pictures were knocked off kilter on the walls and other picutres in frames had been knocked off the fireplace and coffee tables and were strewn about the front room, some cracked and broken others just knocked aside. Mouse joined me as I made my way into the dining room where chairs were flipped and the centerpiece lay against the far wall, the white lace doily it had sat on was hanging on the back of the chair farthest from where the fighting had occurred. The kitchen, oddly enough didn't seem to be in the same state of disarray, magnets still clung to the white refrigerator and the white crock that held her wooden spoons and spatulas sat neatly in line with the canisters that held her sugar, flour and coffee.

Going back into the front room, beneath an overturned love seat there was a hand, streaked with blood sticking out from under a cushion. I crouched down to see a man, in his mid to late twenties lying on his back with deep claw marks across his neck and chest. He had sandy blond hair and was a little on the heavy side, his long hair matted with still wet blood from a head wound. His hands and arms were also covered in cuts and scratches and in his right hand he still clung to a broken table leg dotted with a black liquid and the crimson of his own blood. The pool of blood that was soaking into the carpet around his body was large enough to tell me that he hadn't survived the fight. I could tell he had put up one hell of a fight before he died. It looked like he had just died and whatever killed him was probably still lurking in the apartment if Mouse's continued growl was any indication.

I stood slowly listening and aiming my blasting rod down the hallway. The light in the hall had been shattered and there were streaks of blood on the walls as if someone had run their bloody fingers against them as they walked to the bedrooms. Mouse moved closer to me and began to growl again as we reached the end of the hallway. There were two doors of some dark wood on either side of the hallway, both closed. Mouse sniffed and glared at the door to the left. His fur took on a light bluish glow as his growl became louder, I could feel the vibration in my bones. I took a deep breath and pulled energy from my surroundings getting ready for whatever lay behind the door.

Things happened very quickly, door exploded outward sending splinters and chunks of wood into the door across the hall as something came out of the doorway and flew at me. I shoved my left hand forward and focused my will on my shield bracelet bringing into being a blue quarter sphere of energy between myself and the demon. It saw the shield at the last moment but its momentum carried it full force into shimmering blue field of energy and slammed against it as if it had hit the side of a mountain, the impact pushed me back several feet towards the living room. It bounced off my shield and landed a at the end of the hall, crouched and glaring at me with red glowing eyes and black reptilian skin, its pink forked tongue licking its teeth. Its lips had rolled back showing its teeth in a vicious snarl as I thrust my blasting rod toward it and shouted, "Forzare" as I slammed my will into the rod. I felt a sudden rush of release as a white shaft of energy flew from the tip of my rod and slammed into the beast's chest, there were sick cracking and popping noises as the force of the blast threw the creature back slamming it heavily into the wall at the end of the hallway, leaving a large beast shaped dent. The creature dropped to the floor and let how a howl of rage and pain turning into a shrill scream that cut into my head through my ears and echoed, reverberating in my skull. For a moment I was completely numb and my mind threatened to shatter under the assault of the creatures scream. My concentration broken, the shield spell simply fell apart and the blue field of energy blinked and was gone. I was straining to maintain consciousness and sanity as I stood stunned. The creature leapt with blinding speed, jaws opened wide with sharply pointed fangs and teeth streaking for my throat. At the same time an extremely loud booming bark erupted from Mouse, the sound shook the hall and probably the entire building, clearing my head as a flash of brown and gray streaked past my face and caught the creature by one of its legs and drove it sideways past me, literally into and then through a wall. Mouse and the creature fell together into the room across the hallway from where it had come out. There was a shrill scream of terror as the howls, snaps and banging of the furious fighting came from the hole in the wall. Pulling my wits about me I headed for the door and swung it open, pushing my strength into my blasting rod as I stepped against the far wall to face the battle going on. Mouse had opened a large gash in the creature's foreleg and its chest looked dented from the blast earlier, but it still managed to twist and slither enough to keep Mouse circling it. In the far corner there was a young woman wearing a robe, hanging open to reveal her mismatched panties and bra and ear phone wires leading from her ears into the pocket of her robe, she had a hair dryer in one hand and a brush in the other. She stood in shock and horror in the door to her bathroom. Mouse and the creature were occupying the middle of the room and I was on the far side from her. "Wizard, you will regret your actions this day." The creature hissed, clawing at Mouse who deftly dodged the attack. "I get that a lot these days," I said trying to get a clean shot at the beast. Through the window on the far wall I could see the sun had set and Abbeys building was casting a long shadow across the parking lot and into the street as the creature feinted towards Mouse, then turned and hurled itself out the bedroom window and into the gathering darkness, falling glass trailing in its wake. I ran to the window and thrust my blasting rod down towards the ground but the creature was gone. I quickly scanned the surrounding area in case it was climbing for the roof or neighbors apartment, but there was no sign of it anywhere. Shaken and still a little stunned I turned back into the room, Mouse laying in front of the bathroom door, head on his paws and tail gently wagging, he lay in front of the girl who was sobbing in shock and fear in the tattered remains of what until a few minutes ago was her bedroom. Her bed had been shredded and the mirror over her toppled dresser had originally been where the now three foot hole in her wall was now, pieces of drywall hanging in large broken pieces. I sighed and put my blasting rod away as Debbie called from the hallway, "Mr. Dresden, is everything alright?"

"Are you Abbey?" I asked turning from the window to face the terrified girl.

"Yes.." she sobbed, removing her MP3 players ear buds, "what the heck was that thing?" she dropped to the floor, putting her head onto her knees and continued to cry.

"My name is Harry, we met a couple of times at the paranet meetings, do you remember?" I asked in my most calming voice. "Debbie, you should come in here, and close the front door." I said over my shoulder. The last thing we needed was a curious neighbor sticking their head in if that thing decided to come back.

"What was that thing?" she asked, still trembling and her eyes wide with terror.

"It was a demon, we hurt it pretty bad and it's gone now." I said still trying to calm her. "We need to get you someplace safe, can you stand?" I asked.

Debbie came into the room, staring at the damage and then at Abbey. "Abbey!" she cried as she rushed across the room and kneeled down to give her friend a hug, "are you alright?" she asked, gently holding her friend.

"I think so, I was in the bathroom listening to music and working on my hair for tonight when my room exploded and something was attacking this dog." She stammered. "And I swear the dog was GLOWING!" she closed her eyes and started to cry again, leaning her head on Debbie's shoulder. Mouse let out a sigh and leaned against the girls.

"Debbie, we have to get her calmed down, dressed and out of here. That thing may be coming back with friends for round two." I said in as calm a voice as I could manage.

After a few minutes Debbie and Abbey were standing and looking for clothes for Abbey to wear. I told them to grab two or three complete outfits, something sensible that she could move easily in (in case she needed to fight or run), as I wasn't sure how long it would be before she could come back to her apartment. They rushed me out of the room so Abbey could dress, Mouse staying behind to keep an eye on things.

I went into the other room where the thing had emerged from, it was another bedroom, this one didn't have a bathroom attached nor did it have a bed, instead it had a desk, computer, printer and shelves that held various books and implements for working ritual magic. As part of a coven she would need these things. She obviously had little if any power since her computer seemed to be running as the printer had several sheets of printed paper in the output hopper. I grabbed the papers and started going through them. There were pages on western European magic and lore as well as some crude diagrams of different runes and sigils that another page showed incorporated into some sort of summoning circle. I didn't take time go through all the pages and folded them neatly and put them in a breast pocket of my duster to go over later.

The girls, women were coming out of the bedroom as I was leaving the extra room, Debbie had an overnight bag that looked like it was about to burst hanging over one shoulder. It was then that I remembered the body in the front room.

"Abbey, do you know a man about 6' tall, heavyset with blond hair?" I asked.

"That would be Tom, my boyfriend. He was going to stop by but got hung up at work." She said, giving me a confused look. She gasped at the destruction in her front room and started to tear up again, raising her hands to her face.

"I'm afraid he made it over after all," I said as she saw the hand sticking out from under the loveseat. She bolted towards the body and I caught her around the waist, half lifting her to stop her. "We don't have time for that now, that thing may be coming back and the police are likely to be here soon and we don't have time to stand around answering questions." I told her, pushing her out the half open door as she began to sob hysterically. We closed the door and headed back to the car.

All things considered, I could have left her at her parents' home and their threshold would have probably been sufficient to keep her safe from most run of the mill demons. However, I couldn't know if it would come back with bigger, nastier friends next time and I had some questions for her, so we headed back to my place.

As I pulled into the gravel driveway of my building, I saw a large white truck parked near the stairs leading down to my apartment. As we climbed out of my car, it must have looked like a carnival act with clowns pouring out of the little car. Michael and his daughter Molly, my apprentice came to meet me. Michael was not a tall man but he was sturdy and as solid as a granite statue, he smiled broadly and offered his hand as I came around the front of the car.

"I see you have company," he said as he took my hand in his viselike grip.

"Ya, we had some trouble this afternoon." I said indicating the blond with bloodshot eyes, being helped along by the slight redhead. "Michael, this is Debby and Abbey," I said as they came to the front of the car to join us, Mouse heading over to Molly who was standing at the back of the truck holding a couple of paper shopping bags. She set the bags down and crouched to give Mouse a hug and customary scratch behind both ears.

"Nice to meet you," he said his face growing serious, "What happened Harry?" he asked me quietly.

"I'll tell you all about it, but let's get inside first." I said motioning everyone to follow me down the concrete stairs that lead to my apartment under the old boarding house. I dropped the wards as I opened the large steel security door that usually required a cross body check to open all the way because it didn't hang quite evenly because wizards aren't the best carpenters and I installed it myself.

I directed my entourage through the alcove I called a kitchen and into the living room, lighting the candles on the walls with a word and wave of my hand. Once everyone was in I shoved the door to close it and felt a subtle pop of energy as I reset my wards.

The women found a place to sit, Abbey and Debbie on my old overstuffed couch and Molly in one of my high backed leather chairs, Mouse next to her with his head resting on her lap to elicit more scratches and attention. Michael and I stood in the kitchen to talk quietly.

"It seems Abbey was contacted by something that was trying to lure her into undertown." I started. "I heard about it early this afternoon and went to warn her, but something had beaten me to her apartment. It killed her boyfriend and was snooping around her office." I told Michael in a hushed tone.

"What doesn't make sense is it didn't go for the girl directly after her boyfriend, maybe we interrupted it before it had a chance. I don't know, but whatever it was it meant business." I finished.

"Maybe it wasn't there for her but something she had in her possession. It could be that her boyfriend walked in on it by accident." Michael offered.

"I don't know, there's something screwy about this whole thing. She's part of a coven but she's doesn't have any power to speak of, I didn't see any relics or sense anything in her apartment." I said shaking my head, making it ache as a headache began to form in the back of my head. "If she was heading to undertown to meet this thing tonight, why show up at her apartment?"

"It sounds like you have you hands full, Harry. Are you planning on keeping the girls here tonight?" He asked looking concerned.

"Ya, it's the safest place for them to be and I have some questions for Abbey. I need to see if we can straighten this thing out and find out what's really going on." I said. "Do you mind if Molly stays here tonight too? She's their age and may be able to get something out of them that I can't." I asked.

"I suppose it would be oaky, you're keeping them in for the night I'm assuming?" he asked.

"Definitely, I don't need them wandering the streets with a demon on the loose looking for them." I said.

"Fine then, have her give me a call in the morning to let me know what's happening. Also have you talked to sergeant Murphy about what happened at the apartment?" he asked.

"I haven't had time but I plan to do that shortly." I replied.

"Charity had made some things for a pot-luck dinner at church tonight, but it turns out her calendar was off by a week and it's not tonight. She said you could use the calories more than I, so she asked me to bring it over. With you company, it looks like you may need the extra food." he said giving me a knowing smile.

Michael had been, until recently a Knight of the Sword, a.k.a. Fist of God. He had carried one of the three swords that had a spike from the cross worked into its construction. Michael had used the sword, given to him by an arch angel, and his devout faith to defeat everything from fallen angels and various demons to an actual dragon. He had been seriously wounded a while back while helping me on a case, any lesser man would have died from the wounds, but Michael had recovered and only walked with a limp. Even so, the sword had passed from him and he was now retired from that line of work and was happily spending his time on his business and being a full time father to his children.

His faith tended to lead to happy coincidences, meaning he tended to be where he was needed and the things he needed seemed to turn up just as he needed them. It was a fringe benefit of being one of God's mightiest mortal soldiers. So it was no great surprise that he ended up on my doorstep with his daughter in tow tonight.

"I need to get back to the house, but if you need anything, don't hesitate to call me." He said with a stern look on his face. Michael may no longer hold a holy sword, but in a fight, he's better than just about anyone I've seen, even with a limp.

"I will, but I don't expect any trouble tonight. I've recently upgraded and charged my wards, so we should be fine." I told him taking his hand in a firm grasp. He waved to Molly and then left.

Molly came into the kitchen as I closed the door. "Where's dad going?" she asked.

"I asked him if you could stay here and help me with my new guests." I replied.

"Oh, fine, don't ask me if I have any plans or anything," she said rolling her eyes.

"Well, did you have plans?" I asked.

"No, but you could have asked before bartering for me with my father." She replied only half serious.

"Do you mind helping me out?" I asked with a scowl and slight irritation in my voice.

"No, master." She said with a teasing smile. "They seem nice enough and somehow I don't see you doing girl talk all night."

I explained to her what had happened, with only a brief giggle and blush when I mentioned the magazine I had received in the mail. I asked if she could chat with them to find out what kind of spell Abbey had used to summon her spirit and where she had gotten the spell. Also to ask if she might have something rare or maybe something new had come into her possession that the demon may have been looking for. She agreed and grabbed the grocery bags and a few cans of coke from my icebox, and headed to the living room to start her girl talk interrogation. I on the other hand, slid back a rug in the corner to expose the trap door that lead to my lab and descended the folding ladder into the musty subbasement.


	3. Chapter 3

"The Sisterhood"

All rights to The Dresden Files and its characters are the property of Jim Butcher.

"Flickum biccus" I said with a wave of my hand as I descended into my mostly underground laboratory, causing the candles to flicker to life. My lab was about the size of my apartment with work benches against one wall and steel wire shelving around most of the rest of it. The shelves weren't disheveled, per se, but I had promised myself to take a few days to reorganize for the last year. The shelves were filled with boxes, book, boxes of books and various containers of components needed for various spells or potions and the equipment to do either. In the far end of the lab there was a small desk, kept neat and orderly that I allowed my apprentice, Molly, to keep. Behind against the far wall there was a large brass ring firmly attached to the floor. This was used for various spells and summoning. Above the work bench there was a wooden shelf that held only a volcano of wax at either end, from the countless candles that had been burned there, a small pile of trashy romance novels and a skull.

"Wake up Bob, we've got a case." I said, clearing a space on the main work bench that held a pewter replica of down town Chicago and part of the outlying area. I set the envelope containing the pictures in the clear space and started to pull the pictures and paper out and sift through them. The eye sockets of the skull started to glow, a pin point of orange light at first, quickly growing to fill them completely.

"Harry, you have a threesome upstairs don't you!" Bob said more excited than I'd seen him in a long while. "Oh Harry, can I go up and take a peek? Pretty please!" he asked.

"No Bob. We have work to do and Molly is trying to get some information out of the girls in private. I don't think having a spirit floating around the living room would help much." I replied curtly.

"Harry, are you talking to me?" Molly's voice came from upstairs. I wasn't aware I was talking that loud. I hadn't told her about Bob yet and didn't know if she was ready to put up with his shenanigans.

"No, I was just talking to myself." I said, "Bob, be quiet." I whispered. I went up a few steps and poked my head just above the floor, "I'm going to close this so the noise doesn't disturb you girls." I said with a grimace as I pulled the door closed.

"He does that sometimes." Molly said to the girls giving rise to a round of laughter as I stepped down the stairs into my lab.

"Bob, take a look at the photos and tell me what you know about that pendant." I said leaning setting the skull on the table next to the photos and papers I had spread out.

"Harry, tell me you aren't going after this." He said as the skull turned from the pictures to face me.

"Bob, you know what it is? I knew I'd seen it someplace before but had no idea where. Tell me what you know about it." I said excitedly.

"Harry, this is bad juju. Grandma looks sweet and innocent, but if she knew what that medallion was or had any power at all, I guarantee you that you wouldn't have liked her." Said the skull, its eye lights turned up towards me.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Ancient magic Harry and not the good kind either. That medallion is more than a pretty trinket, it's a symbol, a talisman." He said somehow looking very serious for a skull.

"Tell me more." I prodded.

"Fine." Said the skull with a slight huff in its voice, "This dates back to before the founding of the White Council, wizards around the world were feared and sometimes hunted but more often were either working for a king or were trying to become one, like the pharos." He said, turning back to the pictures. "There was a group of wizards, women mostly in Europe, they called themselves The Sisterhood, or The Wizen, meaning the wise. They had banded together to keep the Barbarians and Vikings etc. from looting and plundering their villages mostly. When Merlin called together the most powerful wizards he could find, The Sisterhood was high on his list. The discussed laying the foundation for the White Council, including the laws of magic. Well, the leader of The Sisterhood, Bella I think her name was, well she flatly refused to have men impose their will or limit her use of magic. Take the first law for example, not killing mortals with magic, that would have left them vulnerable to the invading hordes. The law about not transfiguring people, well let's just say the old fairy tale about the prince being turned into a frog was their doing. They basically thumbed their nose at the group and left. When the other wizards did finally come to an agreement and formed the White Council, none dared go after The Sisterhood as they were very powerful and skilled in the ways of magic, all sorts of magic. So, they decided to live and let live. The Sisterhood kept to themselves and the White Council didn't discuss them as they didn't want new members to think they could skulk off and join the sisters and not abide by any rule of law." Bob fell silent seemingly reminiscing about old times.

"Bob, so what happened to, 'The Sisterhood'? Are they still around today and you still haven't explained about the necklace." I insisted.

"Well, they lived in quiet for a long time. As Europe grew, others started to encroach on their territory. Rumor has it that they drove off entire villages for being too close, fire, storms, drought, earthquakes, death magic, the whole deal and one of the dead was a wizard, one on the White Councils high council. Supposedly, he was planted in a village to protect them and failed miserably. Then when the inquisition came about, someone put a bug in their ear and they came for the sisters one at a time with a little outside help, if you know what I mean. It was grim times to be a wizard Harry. That was the last anyone has heard from them."

"As for the medallion, these wizards didn't just enchant them to be a focus, or protection, they actually poured a lot of their power into them and it's said that if they didn't die in battle, instead of a death curse, they poured all their remaining power into their medallion to help protect and empower their heir. These medallions went through many generations of wizards Harry. I cannot begin to tell you how powerful these things are, and given that the dying essence of many unrepentant 'wild' wizards, some warlocks, and probably necromancers has been poured into them. They're bad news Harry. Even if you could destroy such a thing it would be like using dynamite to get rid of an H-bomb. It couldn't possibly end well." He said somehow scowling at the picture. "So now you see Harry, this isn't something you want to get mixed up in. If the White Council caught you with one of these, it would likely cost you your head."

I sighed and shook my head, "Why don't I ever get the easy cases." I asked.

"Because you're ignorant and let a pretty face get you into the middle of bad things?" Bob offered.

"Who said she's pretty?" I snapped.

"Well, is she?" Bob asked.

"I took the case because it looked easy and she gave me a fist full of cash up front." I snapped.

"But was she pretty?" he insisted.

"She wasn't ugly." I replied.

"Well there you go." The skull replied with an, "I told you so," in his voice. "Can I go upstairs now? I promise to stay out of sight."

"Bob, don't push me." I grumbled looking at the pictures again and remembering seeing the medallion in a sketch when I was a young apprentice to Justin. He had been interested in the story of the medallions and had mentioned to me in passing how he would love to get his hands on one if they still existed.

"So, if I had the hair of the last rightful owner of one of these, do you think a tracking spell would lock onto it?" I asked.

"Harry, what happened to bad juju and juggling an H-Bomb. Did you hear nothing I said?" he asked incredulous.

"Look, I need to find it. I'll figure out what to do with it once I have it. Maybe I can turn it over to The Gate Keeper or Ebenezer they are on the high council. They could keep quiet about how they came by it. That would mean I'd have to return the money." I said.

"Yes, probably." Bob said sarcastically. "Or you could keep the money, turn the tart over to the Council and be done with it. It'd be a win win Harry!"

"Bob, don't ask me why but I honestly don't believe she knows what the medallion is." I said remembering her tearing up at the thought of her grandmother.

"Harry, you're telling me that she comes to Chicago out of the blue, just happens to find you and she has no idea what it is she's asking you to recover?" Bob said flatly. "Is she a practitioner, Harry?"

"Well, when she handed me the envelope I did feel something but she seemed more surprised than I was. If she was a practicing wizard or hung around in those circles she would have known better than to touch me and it wouldn't have come as a surprise when she felt my power." I retorted.

"If she's that strong, she has to know she has power, unless she's totally oblivious to things blowing up when she gets mad." The skull said smugly.

"I don't know Bob" I said trying to piece this whole thing together.

I nearly jumped out of my skin when the phone rang. I had run an extension down into the lab at Mollys behest so she wouldn't have to run upstairs while studying.

"Dreseden" I said into the receiver.

"Hi Harry," came Murphy's voice over the phone, sounding more than a little perturbed. "You wouldn't happen to know anything about a blond, redhead and tall guy in a long leather coat with a huge dog leaving a crime scene in a mismatched VW earlier tonight would you?" she asked with a slight snarl.

"Ya, sorry about that Murph, I meant to call you but things got a little crazy." I replied.

"Looks like it, care to fill me in?" she asked.

"Sure, why don't you stop by, I have the girls here with Molly right now and I don't want to leave them alone. You know, spooky stuff." I said honestly.

"I should drag you all downtown for a night of free accommodations courtesy of CPD. Damnit Dresden, you know better!" she huffed.

"You could, but if we got any visitors, I don't think you'd like it. They didn't play nice at her place." I told her flatly.

"Fine, I'll be there in twenty minutes." She said hanging up.

"She didn't say goodbye Bob. I think she's pissed." I said to the skull, rolling its eyes.

"Great, you are going to have four women in your apartment tonight and you're still going to end up sleeping alone." He said disgusted.

"You know it's not like that with me and Murph," I replied dryly, "and Mollys my apprentice and daughter of one of my closest friends, the other two are too young and under my protection. I couldn't take advantage of them at a time like this." I finished.

"They are all over the legal age of consent and you're making excuses." Bob said turning away from me slightly with a haughty attitude. "I'm starting to think you enjoy being celibate."

"Can it Bob." I said, lifting the skull back up to the wooden shelf and placing the latest copy of PentacleHouse next to his trashy novels.

"Really Harry, this is the best you've got?" He asked.

"Take it or leave it." I said starting to lift the magazine off the shelf.

"No, no that's fine. I'm sure there are some stimulating articles." He said his eyes turning to the magazine.

I headed up the stairs, dousing the candles with a word. When I came into the living room the girls were all sitting in a circle on the floor chatting with a wide assortment of bowls, plates, casserole dishes and a double layer chocolate cake, half eaten, on the floor between them. They were eating and talking, totally oblivious of me as I closed the trap door and replaced the Persian rug that covered it.

I walked to the kitchen and go a plate and fork then joined the girls on the floor.

Charity, Mollys mother and I have never been on what you would call on friendly terms. Lately, we've been getting along much better as I'm no longer dragging her husband into the jaws of death and danger, then there is the fact that I helped to save her daughter's life. When Molly came into her powers, she made a big mistake and I stepped between her and the Wardens sword, by taking her as an on as an apprentice and taking full responsibility for her actions until such a time as she can stand the trials to become a full member of the White Court. So I no longer got scowls or angry looks when I visited the Carpenter house. In face on rare occasions I get food, like pies, cookies, cupcakes or other things that Charity makes for the kids to take to school, the surplus comes to me. I guess it's a peace offering of sorts and an attempt to keep her husband fit while putting some meat on my lanky bones at the same time. That and Molly spends a lot of time with me so I guess it helps her to know that she has something of home with her while studying magic. Tonight, she out did herself. The feast she had sent over would have feed me and Mouse for a week, with three extra guests, we were still likely to have left overs.

I helped myself to a large slice of lasagna and a large pile of her southwest chicken and corn rice casserole with a nice helping of corn bread and green beans. I also spied in a bag pushed next to the couch, covered in plastic wrap what looked like Charity's homemade sweet potato pie. Molly hadn't pulled it out with the rest of the feast for the girls, I guess she knew how fond I was of her mother cooking and that pie in particular. I had to remember to do something nice for her in the near future.

As I ate the girls continued to talk, the topic at hand now was family relations. Debbie and Molly were discussing how annoying, yet still wonderful younger brothers and sisters could be. They laughed and shared stories and Abbey stayed quiet listening but not adding to their stories. After devouring about half the plate of absolutely wonderful food, even at room temperature, I turned to Abbey during a lull I the conversation.

"Abbey, do you have any siblings?" I asked in a natural, off the cuff manner.

"No, I was an only child," she said sadly.

"Any cousins?" I asked.

"Well yes, I do have a few cousins one is about my age but she lives Texas so I don't get to see her that often." She replied. "My Aunt Fiona has a couple of kids, but they are older than I am and I've only met them once or twice at family reunions. I think they live back east somewhere." She finished.

After a moments silence I looked up at Abbey, "Abbey, a friend of mine is coming over. Her name is Sergeant Murphy. She's with the Chicago PD. She's a really nice lady and she has to ask you a few questions about what happened at your house tonight." At this Abbey became apprehensive, her shoulders tightening and her eyes narrowing slightly. "Don't worry," I told her, "you can tell her what happened. I've worked many cases with her and she understands the paranormal. Just answer her questions honestly and it'll all be over fairly quickly." I said as reassuring as possible.

"She's okay, Abbey." Molly chimed in. "She is the one I told you about that's teaching me aikido and she's really nice. You'll like her."

Abbey's shoulders loosened slightly but she still looked like she was about to start crying again, until Debbie told a joke and the girls began bantering about the latest tabloid celebrity gossip. I got up and went to the kitchen to hide the pie in the ice box and finish my meal, Mouse trailing on my heels. I wasn't sure if he wanted the lasagna or to get away from the estrogen cloud that was forming in my living room from all the talk of celebrities and other female banter. Either way, it seemed that the living room had officially become a male free zone.

I finished my meal and filled Mouse's water bowl, the his food bowl with Kibble and the food that I couldn't finish eating and he gulped it up happily while I grabbed a Coke from the ice box. When he was finished I extended my senses around the outside of my apartment and found nothing lurking in the near vicinity of my apartment so I lowered my wards and took Mouse out for a walk. We were walking along the strip of grass that was the tiny backyard of the boarding house when Murphy pulled into the driveway. As she got out of the car, I could tell by her posture and the look on her face that I had some explaining to do. Murphy was wearing a dark business suit, white button down shirt and sensible shoes.

Murphy stood five foot even. She had a light athletic build like a gymnast, short blond hair, striking blue eyes and a cute nose. I'd never tell her this, but she was attractive in the cute girl next door sort of way. You would never guess that she held multiple black belts and had put the beat down on some of the nastier things to come from the streets of Chicago, the nevernever and udertown as well as having a shelf full of marksman trophies. Murphy had been around the block, she was formidable and she was a good cop. I'm glad she was a friend.

"Harry," She started as she marched over to me, "what the hell were you thinking? You can't take witnesses from the scene of a murder! It's not like you and Mouse are easy to miss, especially leaving the scene in the most recognizable car in the state! Why didn't you just leave a note along with your fingerprints which are all over the crime scene?" she barked.

"Murph, if you've been to the crime scene, seen the body and girls bedroom I think you know exactly why we had to leave." I said defensively, Mouse pushing his head into Murphy's side at the mention of his name. "Look, he was killed by a demon with big claws and long, pointy teeth! It almost got me and the girl. We could have waited for the cops to arrive but if this thing is after the girl, then it would probably come back just as forensics and the corner arrived and brought a few of its larger, nastier friends. Tell me Murph, how would that have played out?"

She was still angry but I could tell she also knew I had made the decision that would cause the least loss of life and in fact the done prudent thing by getting her to safety. Her features softened a little but there was still fire in her eyes, "Why didn't you at least call me? If you had reported it then it would you would be a lot less likely to become a suspect. As it stands, we have a body, your prints and a trashed apartment. I need to talk to the girl." She said in a way that implied, "Now!".

We went back into the apartment, closing the door and raising the wards that protected my apartment and served as an early warning system for any nasty's that came within half of a mile of my place. Murphy stopped in the kitchen waiting for me to finish and looked at the circle of girls on my living room floor.

"You throwing a slumber party, Dresden?" she asked.

"Why you bring your pajamas?" I asked wryly and received a quick elbow to the ribs for my trouble.

"I had Molly come over to help out. I figured they would be more likely to talk to her and I would get some time to concentrate on another case that I'm actually being paid for." I replied.

"What do you mean? The girl didn't call you in on this?" she asked. I filled her in on what had happened and how I came to be at Abbey's apartment, then about the demon that attacked us and presumably killed Abbeys boyfriend. Once I had finished the story Murphy seemed a little more relaxed.

"So all of this is over an ad in some wizard porn magazine?" She asked.

"It's not porn and I don't subscribe to it, before you ask. This is like the second time I've ever seen that magazine and the first time I actually read it." I said defensively.

"Uh huh. Were there pictures of naked people in it?" she asked.

"Yes, but it was purely for academic purposes." I told her.

"Sure it was. I'll need to take the magazine, its evidence." She said.

"Bob isn't going to like it." I said under my breath.

"Bob is going to have to deal with it." She said with a look of disgust on her face.

Mouse had found a comfortable spot on the floor next to my pantry and was starting to snore as Molly noticed that Murphy had arrived.

"Murphy!" she said, "Care to join us for some pot luck? Mom made it!" she said enticingly.

"Um, sure." She said. "We're not finished Dresden." She whispered to me in a, "Wait till your father gets home", sort of way, then went to join the circle in the living room. I headed into my bedroom to get out of the way, lie down and eavesdrop.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

As I came into my room I was followed by my thirty pound cat Mister. I sat down and pet him a few times before he jumped up onto the bed, making the springs squeak in protest.

I laid down on my bed, resting my head on the folded over pillow, on top of the thin blankets and Mister took is usual place splayed across my legs and began to purr like a big block Chevy. I started to calm myself to listen to the conversation going on in the living room. Listening is a skill that I had picked up along the way somewhere, when I focused I was able to hear things most people couldn't and although the people talking weren't trying to be quiet and were less than twenty feet away, between the intervening door and the small puma on my legs, I needed to focus. Any first grade teacher will tell you that in order to listen, you must first be quiet. If you are talking you really can't listen, unless you are both female and between the ages of ten and fifteen, I was neither. I calmed my inner dialog and pushed my worries and thoughts aside and focused on the words being said in the living room.

Murphy was running through what had happened with Abbey, then with Debby. They explained how we had gone looking for Abbey and walked into a destroyed apartment then there was a fight and the demon jumped out the window. Pretty straight forward stuff. Then Murphy started asking the same questions different ways and using more open ended questions to get the girls to talk more and explain in their own words what happened, hoping they would add a detail they had not mentioned earlier.

It was about this time that without realizing it, the voices became more and more distant, my breathing deepened and soon I was floating in darkness, warm, comfortable, quiet with a conversation going on somewhere, a soft murmur in the distance. I hadn't used that much magic today but the mixture of a full stomach and my warm room conspired to pull me into a light sleep.

I'm not sure how long I was dozing but I vaguely remember hearing Murphy say goodbye, open the door and then there was a loud crash. I sat up straight and Mister dove off the bed and made for my bathroom. There was a growl and a shriek as I jerked out of bed and flew to my door.

My blasting rod and staff were in my umbrella stand outside my bedroom door but before I could get to them a black claw came from around the corner and smashed into my chest throwing me back across my bedroom and into the wall next to the bathroom. Pain danced in my chest glowing red turning to white hot pain when I sucked air into my lungs.

I heard a crash and a yelp as Mouse smashed sideways into my fireplace with a sickening popping sound and fell to the floor. I heard screaming and a rush of scratching on the concrete of my floor and then the stairs and then all was silent. Mouse, now on his feet stood favoring one shoulder and launched himself towards my kitchen door with a vicious bubbling growl and his long white fangs and fur gleaming unnaturally in the candle light. Then there was no crash, no growls and the apartment fell silent except for the weeping of a young woman.

I got to my feet and hurtled the bed and jumped sidelong into the living room, snatching my staff and shaking out my shield bracelet as I went. I swung in a fast arch, pushing power into my staff ready to strike but there was nothing threatening. My couch had a few new rips in the back and the food was strewn all over the floor. Molly and Debby were curled up next to the couch, Molly leaning over Debbie to shield her. I turned and looked into my kitchen and Murphy lay on her back, blood tricking from a cut on her lip, trying to catch her breath. At the top of the stairs stood Mouse, one front leg lifted, scanning the area and sniffing the air, but no longer growling.

"They got Abbey, Harry. I didn't have time to do anything, Murphy opened the door and turned to say something to us and they hit her, then Mouse. They grabbed Abbey and then they were gone." Molly said wide eyed, still in shock from the sudden attack. Molly moved to let Debby up and I headed over to the kitchen to check on Murphy.

Murphy is tough, I mean drop three bikers and chase off another four without breaking a sweat tough. She had fought all manner of creatures from the nevernever and lived to tell the tale. Now she lay on my kitchen floor, eyes dazed and struggling for breath. I noticed her shoulder lay at an unnatural angle and when she tried to sit up she winced in pain and lay back down. I'm no doctor but from personal experience I could tell her shoulder was dislocated and she probably had a few cracked or broken ribs to go along with it.

I lifted her and moved her to the couch and we tried to piece together what had happened. The demons must have been lying in wait a few blocks away and moved when Murphy dropped the wards to leave, when she stopped in the doorway the demons plowed into her like a freight train and ran right through my deactivated wards. One swatted me like a fly as my door opened. Mouse went after it as the other came from behind and smashed him into the fireplace. The first grabbed Abbey and they left, just like that. Textbook smash and grab.

My wards were good and in a siege they would take down an army of the strongest zombies, ghouls or at least a few powerful demons giving me time to get ready to give them a surprise party like they had never seen or run like hell depending on what the situation called for. However, I had to balance my safety with that of my neighbors, the mail man and the UPS guy, not to mention girl scouts selling cookies on occasion. So there were a few, very few, loop holes in my defenses and they found one.

I was angry, no I was livid. Not only had they come into MY house, they hurt Murphy, Mouse and took someone I was protecting. Before I was doing a good deed, I was doing my duty and being a warden. Now it was personal. Nobody comes into MY HOUSE and hurts my friends and takes those under my protection. Before I wanted to find them and find out why they were after Abbey. Now I just wanted to find them. I let my rage play in my imagination for a few seconds, drawing scenes of what I would do to the demons when I found them. Then I pushed those images, the rage, fear and pain into a small room in the back of my mind and closed the door.

Murphy, grabbed the back of the couch and pushed herself into a half sitting position, then let go. She fell forward shoving her hurt shoulder into the far arm of the couch with a brief yelp and a loud POP. When she sat up her face was drained of all color but her shoulder was in place. "It does that sometimes." She said through shallow breaths and a strained smile as she leaned back carefully, sliding her back against the other arm of the couch to support her. "You really know how to show a girl a good time, don't ya Harry?" Murphy half snarled with a mocking smile on her face.

"I try, we even have cake!" I said ironically noticing that the chocolate cake was the only thing left standing upright in the circle of food. Murphy started to laugh then drew in a sharp breath.

"Harry, do you have any ice and ace bandages?" she asked knowingly.

"Sure thing, Molly, you want to grab them for her, their under my sink in the bathroom and Ice is in the ice box. I'm going to bring in Mouse and _close the door_." I said looking over my shoulder, with streaks of pain shooting from my neck to my lower back. Mouse stood like a furry mountain outside my apartment, alert and searching but not in an aggressive stance. That told me that there was nothing nasty in the local area or he wouldn't be standing there. I went to the door and called Mouse, he paused giving the area one last sniff, then turning and limping back into my kitchen. I closed the door soundly and raised my wards.

I grabbed a few cokes out of the icebox on my way back into the living room. Debbie took one but Murph and Molly declined as Molly was busy wrapping Murphys ribs, Murphys shirt covering all but the very bottom of her black lace bra. I rolled the coke over my head and neck before opening it and taking a long drink. I leaned my head back thinking to myself that it had been one hell of a night. It was then that I noticed the gash in my ceiling. There were three cut marks, new ones I mean, and the middle one that should have gone at least as far as the two on the outside stopped short, about a foot shorter than the other two where a support beam crossed my ceiling and landlady's subfloor. I stood up on the couch and felt in the gouge and something sharp poked me in the finger. I grabbed a fork off the floor and used it to pry out of the ceiling what turned out to be the tip of a claw. I had them! The demons left something behind he shouldn't have! For most people it wouldn't be anything but a chunk of sharp black enamel, but I'm not most people.

I knew I had to act fast because once they were in the nevernever the claw would turn to ectoplasm and evaporate. I threw back the rug covering the door to my lab and nearly jumped down the stairs. I grabbed a short piece of string and a diamond shaped crystal. I tied the claw to the crystal and stepped up to the main table with the model of Chicago taking up most of the space.

This is exactly why I had created this. I drew a quick chalk circle on the floor and pulled in power and concentrated on my tracking spell and combined it with the power and intent of the replica on the table and quickly broke the circle letting my spell and a rush of energy out into the room. I leaned forward letting the crystal swing over the part of the city where my apartment was assuming they were still somewhere close and the crystal slowly started to pull to the North West. I followed the pull into the city and down town area, then to the South a little into an area with manufacturing businesses, then towards the water to the West. It seemed to stop a few miles from the water over an area that was a very bad neighborhood. There were old tenements, warehouses and rundown neighborhoods in the area. The area had a lot of vacant buildings that attracted street people and gangs. Where else would a demon feel comfortable?

I pushed my senses into the model and poured more power into my tracking spell and suddenly I was standing on the street. Ghost images of garbage and dead cars lined the street. There was a feint glowing across the street from me, it was my tracking spell leading me. I walked across the street, only half hearing the music and wind blowing off the lake. I walked to the building that the glow was coming from and noticed the address as I walked through the door and into the torn up, decaying apartment.

It had all the signs of years of neglect and having been empty. Piles of beer cans and bottles, ruined mattresses on the stairs and the drapes hung in tatters over the broken windows. I walked back into what was once a modest kitchen, well it was much bigger than mine but made Michaels kitchen look like grand central station. Against the wall where a refrigerator should have been, there was a broken door that looked like it had recently been pulled open. I followed the steps down and came into a musty basement. Spider webs were thick and big rats didn't bother to move as I came close, probably because I wasn't really there but it was still creepy as hell.

In the center of the room lay Abbey, curled up into a ball crying in the darkness. There was also someone else. I couldn't see much as there was no light source except the faint glow from my spell around one of the demons in the far corner of the room. The voices were distant and images hard to make out so I added soulfire the already large amounts of power I was using because I hadn't prepared properly to use the model so I was compensating with brute force.

The words and images came into focus. I could see he was about six feet tall, maybe an inch or so more and he was wearing a black cloak making his features nondescript except for his wide shoulders and he held a long thin staff with some sort of crystal worked into the top, that wasn't simply for show I assumed. Abbey lay on the floor, she sported a few new scrapes, her hair was a mess and her clothes had new rips and stains, but overall she looked okay.

"Where is it dear?" The raspy baritone voice echoed in the small space.

"Where's what? What are you talking about?" shrieked Abbey.

"I told you what I'm looking for child. You can tell me now and leave on your own or I can let my friends encourage you to tell me where it is. The choice is yours my dear." He said in a menacing voice as the sounds of claws and scales moving against concrete came from the far end of the room, where the demons were starting to mill about anxious for a taste of her sweet flesh.

"The only medallion I have is one of Diana, it's in my apartment and you can have it! I got it at a local shop, it's nothing special. It's ornamental..." She cried.

"You would have gotten this one recently from a blood relative, an older female I believe." The deep voice came from the darkness prodding her.

"You mean the pendant from my Great Aunt?" She said incredulously.

"Fine, the pendant then, where is it?" he shouted, becoming impatient.

"I was in a hurry when it came, I put its case back into the envelope and put it in the drawer of my coffee table." She started sobbing.

"Alright then child, we'll wait here until the police leave and you'll retrieve it for me." He said leaning back on a broken washing machine seemingly satisfied and pleased with himself.

Then the images began to shift and swirl as I began to become aware of how tired I suddenly was.

"Boss, BOSS!" came Bobs voice. "You should really end the spell now, you're not looking too good… Harry!" he said.

I released the spell and dropped the crystal to the table as I felt myself starting to fall forward. I caught myself on the table and pushed hard with my arms to keep from falling. The thoughts of what I had just seen continued swirling in my head as a wave of exhaustion sweapt over my body and fatigue from the effort muddled my head.

"I'm fine Bob. Thanks. You need to be quiet, I left the door open and Molly and Murphy are up there with Debbie." I whispered to the skull.

"Fine, I quite possibly saved your life and I get shushed as a thank you." Snarked the skull in a low voice, "Harry, you need to get some rest and maybe a full body massage. They really do help I hear!" he said then his eye sockets swirled and went dark.

_She_ had the medallion? Who was this guy in the robes and where did he fit in to all of this? Then there was the question of who wanted Abbey to go to undertown and why? How did Camilla fit into these events? My head screamed in pain as did my ribs and back. I pushed myself up and half crawled up the stairs to collapse on my couch next to Murphys feet.

I grabbed my neglected can of coke, still cold and drank most of it in one gulp. Molly had finished wrapping Murphys ribs and she and Debbie were cleaning up the dishes and spilled food off the floor. With help from Mister and Mouse the spilled food was nearly gone.

**Note to self**: Mister sleeps in the living room tonight.

"So what was that all about?" Murphy asked quietly, "You shot out of here like something bit you and now you look like hell."

"I found a piece of claw from one of those demons. I was able to eavesdrop on what was going on. How long will the cops be at Abbeys house tonight?" I asked quietly, not wanting to upset Debbie or draw Molly's attention.

"When I left Forensics was there gathering evidence, then the coroner needs to come in, do his thing and gather the body. I guess they'll be there till about eight in the morning taking pictures, taping up and locking the place down. Why?" she asked with a knowing look.

"Abbey should be there about nine then. The guy that had her grabbed tonight wants something out of her house." I said. "That's good, his friends should go back to the nevernever at dawn so we can hit him when he shows up for the necklace." I grinned, leaning my aching head back on the stuffing poking out of the couch.

"Dresden, what haven't you told me?" Murphy said with a glare.

I had Molly bring me my duster and pulled out the envelope with the pictures, leaving the cash in the pocket as I set the duster aside. I told her how Camilla had hired me to retrieve a family heirloom that hadn't shown up in her grandmothers' estate. Then told her how Abbey had received it from her great aunt, probably sent before she died or from a lawyer's office in the event of her untimely demise. Then I explained what I had learned from Bob and how this thing could attract some heavy hitters from the bad side of spooky street. Murphy thumbed through the envelope with the pictures and papers. She held up a paper I hadn't looked at yet and then handed it to me.

"Harry, she died two weeks ago and the weird thing is, there is no cause of death on her death certificate." Murphy pointed it out to show me.

"So?" I asked in my most intelligent voice.

"So, that is a little fishy don't you think? Normally if it's a natural death, old age, heart attack, stroke and such, they'd say natural causes. If it was something else they would list it as suicide or unknown circumstances or note whatever foul play if it was a murder, stabbing, gunshot etc. They never just leave it blank, that would cost someone or a few someone's their jobs." Murphy explained, "Just ask Butters!"

"So you think it's fake?" I asked.

"No It's official, notarized and everything. I'm just wondering is it possible someone put a hex on the M.E. to overlook something suspicious?" she asked.

"If someone who didn't know his job had compelled him to simply sign it then ya, he may very well not fill it out completely." I said pondering the idea.

"That's dark magic though, the wardens would take a wizards head for that," chimed in Molly from over my shoulder. "Trust me Karin, um Sergeant Murphy, I know about this one." She said blushing slightly.

I grabbed then opened one of the unclaimed cokes off the coffee table taking slow sips and shuffled the pictures and papers back into the envelope as Debbie came back from the kitchen after washing the dishes. You have to love well mannered guests.

Debbie was still looking pale and sort of fragile as she came around the couch to sit on the floor across the coffee table from me and Murphy.

"Have you found anything out? What are we going to do about Abbey?" she asked in a concerned but faraway voice.

"She's going to be okay for now. We know where she's going to be tomorrow and we'll get her back then." I said.

"Can we go get her now?" she asked with enthusiasm, making my head ache and throb a little harder.

"We could, but those demons are with her. They should go back to the Nevernever at dawn and we can make our move when the guy that has her brings her into the open." I said feeling just how little energy I had left in my body and how the pain by far outweighed my energylevel.

"So we are just going to sit here and do NOTHING?" she said, her voice a little louder and her pitch a little more shrill. My head wanting to explode just that much more.

"WE aren't going to do anything. You and Molly are going to get some sleep. Murphy and I are going to come up with a plan and then get some sleep. Then in the morning we go get Abbey." I said with a scowl that caused her to stop her retort in her throat, close her mouth and sit down looking a little uncertain. I ushered the girls and Mister into my room and shut the door. Yes, sometimes I'm evil.

I know Mouse is a tough dog, I've seen him bounce off a van doing about thirty miles per hour and he had left under his own power, the van was towed. He was barely favoring one shoulder as he crossed the room, seemingly doing a lot better than an hour ago. Mouse plopped down by the cold fireplace to supervise as Murphy and I started to plan.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

The morning started early, Molly fired up the wood stove in my kitchen and set about making breakfast. I made sure that the old coffee pot was put on to perk while I rousted Debbie off my tiny bed so I could make my way into my bathroom for a quick shower and shave. I've never had a family and only had roommates for a very short time and he was my half-brother, so sharing the bathroom with three women was quite a new experience for me. Using a bathroom with no hot water or electricity was a new experience for both Murphy and Debbie. With no hair dryer the two women stood about with damp hair and a less than impressed look on their face as I finished cooking breakfast, having taken over when Molly excused herself to go clean up.

We ate quickly and rinsed the plates and pans and set out into the morning. Before opening the door I made sure to check my early warning system, a series of candles on the fireplace mantle. All were out which meant either everything was fine or someone had found another way around them. I opted to go with the first possibility, always the optimist, and opened the door. The morning was bright and it was already starting to get warm in the late Chicago summer. Mouse and Mister pushed past me, Mister disappeared over the back fence and was gone, Mouse stood at the top of the stairs studiously holding his lead and looking longingly at the small patch of grass. We went for a quick walk, cleaned up and then went back into the house to get the rest of my entourage.

Murphy was going to take Debbie with her to the station house to file her report and then meet us at Abbeys apartment after dropping Debbie off at her parents' home. Before leaving I stopped to make two quick calls. One call was to my half-brother, and there was no answer and the other, reluctantly to Warden Ramirez. I got his answering machine too. I left a message giving him a brief rundown on what was going on and told him I'd call him later if all went as planned. I hated to bring anyone else in on this but I'd been swatted twice in one night by this guy's pets and decided that discretion was the better part of valor. See I can be reasonable.

We arrived at the apartment house at about quarter to eight. We parked about half a block away in another apartment buildings parking lot. We found a space marked visitor facing the street and Abbeys apartment. There were two police cars, black and whites in front of the building with a large black panel van parked in front of the entrance. The van had large white letters on the side saying POLICE. The van left first, followed shortly thereafter by one of the police cars. I saw the last officer exit the front of the building, then stop and look around, his eyes resting on the mismatched hood of my blue beetle. It was Sargent Rawlings. He just shook his head, got into his car. He sat there for about five minutes then he started his cruiser and pulled away. I looked at Molly and smiled.

"It's show time grasshopper, are you ready?" I asked.

"Ready and I have the backpack. Let's go." She said

We slipped out of the car and skulked around to the back of the beetle. Molly threw a veil around us with a wave of her hand and a word under her breath. I have to hand it to the kid, she was a good student and when it came to illusions and veils, she had me beat. I'd never let her know that and my abilities in subtle magic has come a long way since she came on as my apprentice, but it's her specialty and she's really good at it. Mouse leaned into me trying to stay inside the veil. What can I say, the dog is as smart as half the people I know.

We quickly crossed the street and circled around the building to the back entrance. After hexing the one and very old security camera we slipped in the back door. We made our way up the stairs to the second floor and stopped in the hallway about halfway between Abbeys door, now plastered with yellow tape designating it as a crime scene and the next apartment. We waited maybe five minutes and I started to wonder if my plan was going to work when I heard footsteps on the stairs. Mouse tensed, Molly moved back a little and I pulled my blasting rod from under my coat, shaking my shield bracelet free from the sleeve. I pushed will and power into both readying them. I wasn't going to let this guy catch me off guard again.

Abbey came from the doorway first. I saw his hand on her arm as he pushed her forward. The man who I could see clearly was about six foot two, wearing jeans and a new Chicago Cubs shirt and white tennis shoes. He had broad shoulders and short brown and gray hair. He looked like he was in his late forties or early fifties. His face was wide and his jaw protruded from under his lips like small fist. His eyes were dark green, like a lake in late spring. He was obviously in a hurry and didn't bother to look up until he heard an unseen voice from down the hall mutter, "Forzare". The white bolt of force hit him squarely in the chest, knocking him back and sliding him into the wall with a dull thud. Mouse and I stepped out from under the veil and I motioned for Abbey to come to us as Mouse charged the dark wizard.

He didn't get up, his hand shot forward as I slammed my will into my shield bracelet calling up a concave field of energy between the older man and myself. He mumbled something and then turned his hand so his palm faced down and shoved his hand towards the floor. His ring sparkled as the ceiling over me came crashing down onto my head. The force hit me like a ton of, well ceiling, driving me to the floor hard, my shield only deflected the larger pieces of timber from crushing straight down on me as it wasn't oriented for an assault from above.

Mouse's, teeth were bared, and his fur lightly glowing, he dodged the debris and charged the figure on the floor. Now it was his turn to call up a shield. Mouse rammed into it full force, his feet never stopped pumping as the impact stressed and then broke the shield as he twisted his hand and murmured another spell. Mouse lifted off the ground and hit the wall above the dark wizard. Then Mouse flew, as if thrown by some huge hand into the stair well and into a wall with the sound of cracked drywall.

I had one leg pinned under what must have been either a main support beam or heavy iron water pipe because I couldn't get my left leg free. Instead I moved my rod forward and pushed soulfire into it with my magic along with my rage, anger and desire for payback and loosed it with a word. The thin strip of superheated fire hit him full force in the chest as he was trying to push himself up. He didn't scream or flinch, but instead was pushed forcibly into the wall again. He extended his left hand into my stream of fire and cupped it, the fire gathering in his hand as he looked at me and smiled, showing his crooked teeth and one gold tooth in front with what looked like a diamond embedded into the tooth. I dropped my spell, but he already had a large handful of fire mixed with soulfire.

"Wizard," he started in a thick eastern European accent rolling the ball of flame in his hands, "Do you really think this is worth your life?" he asked calmly. "I am after but a trinket for my sister, wrongly delivered to the little one. Give it to me and we can all leave this place with no further damage to ourselves or these fine people's homes." He continued. I could see mouse trapped on the stairwell, behind a sheer veil of energy that he couldn't break through, clawing and pushing trying to get at the black wizard, then Mouse turned and disappeared down the stairs.

I didn't have a lot of wiggle room. No really, I was pretty much stuck under a large pile of combustible materials and he was holding a large ball of fire. My leg was stuck and I could hardly move. Metaphorically speaking I wasn't in any better shape. Abbey had disappeared from the hallway, at least Molly had gotten her under a veil and hopefully down the stairs at the far end of the building and out to safety.

The wizard was looking into the ball of fire in his hands with a fascinated look on his face mixed with an odd sense of joy and longing. I guessed he liked fire, a lot. I had only seen a handful of wizards who could redirect the energy of someone else's spell like that and they were either on the senior council or should have been.

"If I let you pass do you swear to leave the girl alone?" I snarled. I had to put on a good show or he'd have no reason to bargain with me.

"The girl means nothing to me. She simply has something that belongs to my family. Once I have what I came for I shall have no reason to wish her, or you for that matter, any harm." He smiled and stepped away from the wall. This was good information to have but he didn't make a promise or swear by his power or his name so there was nothing stopping him from coming after either of us later if the mood struck him.

I pushed energy into my shield bracelet and created a shield that circled my body on about a quarter inch away from my skin. The adding will and power to it, I expanded it and the rubble started to shift and move. I was able to pull my legs up and move out from under the pile of debris as the wizard approached me. "Do you swear by your power that if I let you pass that you will not seek out or attack either Abbey or myself and you'll leave Chicago?" I asked standing up to my full height and brushing dust off my coat.

"Neat trick, I would have gone for levitation myself, but that is very creative of you." the wizard said with a smile. "If you leave this place now and do not try to stop me from searching the apartment or leaving, then I will so swear, by my power." The wizard said with a nod, showing a silver chain around his neck as he leaned forward. If he had a Medallion then that would explain how he has thrashed me so soundly.

This guy was strong and knew his stuff. If I could get a good sucker punch on him then I may be able to take him down. But I just tried that and even with Mouse, it didn't turn out so well for us. This guy was smart, fast and powerful, a deadly combination for a wizard. I'm surprised that I didn't know of him, given that that sort of fighting ability would have made him a prime candidate for being a warden. We could really use someone with his abilities in the war against the Red Court. I decided that if I could work out a truce to get him to stay away from Abbey and get out of Chicago, then I would take Bob's advice and have Luccio and Ebenezer catch up to him later. Thereby keeping my word and still getting this guy stopped if it came to that.

"So sworn." I said as Mouse rounded the far corner of the hallway and trotted over to my side. I felt a little surge of energy through the air as our oath took effect, binding each of us to our given word. "I never got your name." I said motioning for Mouse to heel. The wizard closed his hand and there was a puff of smoke from his hand as the fire disappeared.

"I never gave it, Warden Dresden." The gentleman said with a wry smile. "You can call me Gregario," he said with a twinkle in his eye. I've heard your name and a few stories, it's a shame that we meet under these circumstances. Perhaps if you ever get to Budapest we could have a drink, yes?" he said moving past me towards the door to Abbeys home.

"Maybe," I said turning to leave, "but I have to warn you, I don't get out much."

"I see. Now if you'll excuse me, I have some things I must attend to." Said Gregario as he walked around the pile of debris and Mouse and I stepped into the stairwell. Why don't people think I can be diplomatic?

Mouse and I moved pretty fast as we descended the stairs, not running but not slow either. About the time we were moving past the mailboxes a shout echoed through the building. "Betrayer!"

"Well, that didn't take long." I said to my dog as we were exiting the building.

I saw a shadow on the ground pass to my right. As I turned to look I saw Gregario dropping to the ground from the broken window in Abbeys apartment, he fell more slowly that was natural. As he fell he pulled a short rod, a wand maybe, out of his belt from behind his back and began to level it at me. I instinctively brought up my shield and reached for my blasting rod as he mumbled a word. There was an anemic flash of light from his wand as I felt the air tense and release around us. His force bolt was fairly strong but it was nothing my shield couldn't deflect and much lighter than what we had seen him do earlier. But he had broken his promise, a promise made on his power, so the fact that he could toss magic around with the power he did was something. As soon as the tip of my rod was pointing center mass of his body I pushed my will and energy mixed with pain and surprise into my rod and let it fly. The force caught him just under the ribs and he crumpled to his knees. Keeping my rod trained on him I moved forward. Mouse was standing by my side tensed and ready to jump.

Gregario looked up at me with an angry smile and blood on his lips, "I don't need magic to deal with the likes of you." He said with a sick gurgling in his voice. He shoved his hand in front of him, holding short barrel 357 magnum. I pushed more power into my shield and heard three quick shots ring out from the far side of the parking lot as Gregario took two shots to the chest and one to the forehead. He fell to the ground dead, in a mist of his own blood, the back of his head missing a large piece of skull.

"Murph said to head back to the precinct building, but there's the best taco stand a few blocks away…" Rawlings said as he walked from behind a large SUV holstering his weapon with the hint of a smile on his face. "I figured you'd be up to something and decided that maybe I could help to minimize the damage on the local structures."

"Well nothings burning, but the second floor will need a plumber and carpenter pretty quickly." I said with a smile. "Did you get the envelope from the living room?" I asked.

"I did, it's in the car." He said gesturing back towards the black and white pulled next to the curb about half a block away.

"Thanks for doing that and thank you for your help here." I said shaking his hand. He just smiled back at me shaking his head.

"That's why they pay me the big bucks." He said.

There was a shimmer next to me as Molly and Abbey appeared in front of me. Rawlings took a quick step back, his hand moving to his weapon, but he recovered quickly with a deep sigh.

"Could you maybe say something before appearing out of nowhere next time? That's a good way to get shot." he growled with a stern look on his face, then softening to a concerned look as he shook his head.

"Abbey, this is Officer Rawlings, he works with Sargent Murphy." I said making introductions. Rawlings nodded a hello. Abbey was shaken and scared but maintaining control. Molly looked worried and tired as well.

"Harry, I have to call this in and I'll need you three to sit tight until you've talked to the detectives or it's my butt." He said giving me a steady, serious look, half expecting me to disappear in a puff of smoke. I really can't do that but it's good for the image to let people think I can.

We walked over to the police car and Mouse stayed there with the girls as I helped Rawlings cover the body and wait for the emergency vehicles to arrive.

"So did you mention tacos?" I asked my stomach suddenly a little rumbly after all the effort I had exerted in the last half an hour. That and I could really use a cup of coffee.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Before the police arrived I borrowed a pair of latex gloves from the back of Rawlings car and removed the silver necklace from Gregario's neck, put it in a plastic bag and had Molly put it in the trunk of my car. The last thing we needed was to have more wizards making trouble in the M.E.'s office or downtown in the evidence locker. I could have let them take it and hope that those who wanted it were nice enough to come ask for it at the police station, but from what I'd seen of Gregario, he wasn't the patient type and I was willing to bet his sister and extended family weren't any more patient than he was.

Molly, Abbey and I spent the rest of the afternoon downtown talking to the police. They separated us, putting each of us in our own small interrogation room and the detectives took turns questioning each of us in a round robin style. Mouse stayed with me and simply laid on the floor by my side, snoozing most of the time.

Rawlings gave his statement that on his way back from breakfast when he noticed I was leaving the apartment building and he stopped to question me. After seeing Abbeys apartment had been broken into I was on my way to call the police. The perpetrator had followed me from the building and tried to kill me. Lucky for me there was an officer on hand to save the day, while Abbey and Molly had waited in my car. I only had to tell four different people the same story, three times each and answer about a hundred questions just for good measure. Since we had all agreed on a simple story, the investigators had little choice but to let us go.

Finally we were lead out of our little rooms and given cards from various detectives in case we remembered anything more, we took the cards graciously and headed out into the bright sunny day. Since we had been brought here in squad cars my car was still at Abbeys house. I was about to try to hail a cab when Murphy pulled up by the curb and gestured for us to get in. Mouse took up most of the back seat, but Molly and Abbey managed to crawl around him. I took the front seat, being the oldest and least able to fold my legs into the tiny back seat of murphy's Saturn. We headed into Chicago traffic.

"Rawlings said Abbey dropped this in his car." Murphy said with a sarcastic smile, handing me the envelope. I felt a thrum of power and a tingling sensation that was almost painful as I took it from her hands. Bob wasn't kidding. This thing was not a toy and it felt, off somehow. Something about it felt unnatural. It almost felt like it was appraising me, feeling for something. It didn't have an oppressive wrongness or creepy ice up the spine feeling like dark magic, but still I didn't feel completely comfortable holding it. Maybe it was because it didn't belong to me, but something about it gave me butterflies in my stomach.

"Thanks Murphy." I said turning the envelope in my hands looking for a return address, there was none but it did have a Chicago post mark. "Interesting" I thought thinking of a similar envelope I had received in the mail only the day before.

I needed to talk to Abbey about this necklace. It was dangerous and was drawing way too much attention from all the wrong people. I needed to convince her to let me get rid of it. From the stress showing on her face and the tightness of her neck and shoulders, I didn't think it would take too much persuading. Still I didn't want to simply pocket something like this or destroy it without her permission.

Once we got to my car, Abbey, Mouse and I slipped into the little VW and headed for my place, Murphy and Molly following in Murphy's car, now several hundred pounds lighter.

"Abbey, I wanted to talk to you about your necklace." I started. "It's dangerous and there are a few bad guys coming looking for it." I said giving her a sidelong glance as I navigated Chicago traffic.

"The one my great aunt had sent to me?" She said, "I don't even know why she sent it to me, we weren't that close."

"It's clear that there are a few others in your family that want it and want it pretty badly." I continued. "Have you ever heard of, 'The Sisterhood'?" I asked finally.

"No, I'm afraid not." She replied.

"Long story short, they were a powerful group of wizards in Europe that decided not to join the white council when it was formed. We thought they were destroyed around 1200 but this doesn't appear to be the case. It seems that the necklaces were given power by their owners and passed down from mother to daughter and when not possible, was passed to another family member, each generation adding their power to those before. For some reason your great aunt decided to pass it on to you. Do you have any idea why she might do that?" I asked.

"I have no idea, Mr. Dresden. I'm not a powerful wizard, what could I add to it?" she asked.

"I don't know, but she chose you for a reason." I said.

"If that is what these people trying to lure me to undertown and attacking us want, why not just give it to them and let them duke it out, and leave us alone?" she asked. It did make sense in a Darwinian sort of way.

"We could, but that only means that the biggest and meanest of them gets a whole ton of power added to their own. Somehow I don't see that as helping the greater good." I said thinking of what Gregario had done when I attacked him. A Warlock with that kind of power and enough smarts and training to use it right would be the wardens' nightmare.

"If I can find a way to destroy these necklaces or find a safe place to put them, would you be okay with me disposing of it for you?" I asked.

"Yes, I am afraid that it may be the best thing." She said quietly deep in thought.

"Thank you, Abbey. I think you're right. These are very powerful and there are many who would kill to have that power for themselves and they are usually not nice guys." I said thinking of some of the necromancers, warlocks and other wayward practitioners who would hunger for that kind of power.

We drove in silence for the remainder of the trip to my apartment. When we arrived there were two pickup trucks parked in my driveway, one an ancient ford with license plates proclaiming The Ozark State, the other a large white truck with "Carpenter Construction" emblazoned on the side.

"This ought to be interesting," I told Abbey as we pulled into the small gravel parking area.

As we got out, Murphy and Molly were pulling in beside us. Molly offered to take Mouse for a much needed walk as Murphy, Abbey and I made for the door of my apartment. As we entered I saw two men, very similarly dressed, overalls with flannel shirts, seated on my couch laughing and talking as if they were old friends.

"So I asked him, where did you think chicken came from son? And he looked up at me straight faced and says, we always got it from the store!" my mentor finished and with that the two men burst out laughing again. I loudly cleared my throat, slamming the door closed behind me and the two turned, faces still red and smiling.

"Hey Michael, Sir. I see you've met and made yourselves at home." I said turning red, remembering that incident from when I first went to live with Ebenezer at his farm in Hogs Hollow.

"Actually Hoss, we met a long time ago and again at his daughters trial." said Ebenezer rising from the couch. "But it's good to see you again Michael." He continued, smiling at the knight.

"It's good to see you again too sir. I can tell you that you should be proud of your old apprentice, he's done a lot of good for the world." Michael said with a not in my direction.

With a smile and twinkle in his eye, Ebenezer looked at me and said, "I am." I felt a sudden surge of joy and a little warm again not knowing how much I appreciated my mentor's approval. I'm not sure how to describe it and I know that it may sound needy or gushy, but deep down inside me there is a place where happiness, joy, optimism and good will live. In that instant I felt that space go from next empty to over full, just knowing that these two men, whom I respected greatly both believed in me. Although I like to believe that I don't need others approval, not needing it and not having it is two very different things.

"Hoss, we need to talk." Said Ebenezer with a serious look and nod that told me it was private business.

The door opened and Molly came in with Mouse, quickly closing the door behind her. Mouse made is way to Michael and jumped up so his paws were on Michaels shoulders and began washing his face with fervor. Molly and Murphy laughed and went with Abbey into the living room.

Between licks and trying to wrestle the dog off of him, Michael managed to give his daughter a stern look and asked her and Murphy to sit down and explain why he had gotten a call from CPD to notify him that his daughter had been involved in a shooting. As Molly made her way into the living room she handed me a clear baggy with a silver necklace in it with the words, "CPD Evidence" written on the bag. Even not touching it directly I felt the same thrum of power that I had felt from the other necklace, but this one was different, it made my skin crawl and hair stand up on end. Ebenezer gave me a serious look and pointed to the basement.

"Thanks, grasshopper!" I said as I pulled the rugs away from the door leading to my basement, where my mentor and I could talk in private. I lit the candles in my lab with a wave of my hand on the way down.

Once downstairs, with the door closed, my mentor pointed at the door and mumbled a few words and waved at it briefly and there was a shimmer around the door and it was not only locked but soundproofed.

"So Hoss, I got a call from Warden Ramirez this morning. He said you were in deep with the sisterhood and wanted backup if things went south. It appears that Carlos is in the middle of his own sticky situation with a bunch of the red courts members gathering in San Diego and couldn't break away. When the Merlin heard the term the sisterhood, you'd think someone had just told him that Santa Clause had died and he asked me to look into it." He said in a stern but matter of fact tone of voice.

"He couldn't have sent a better man, sir." I said with a nod of my head.

"I agree completely," another voice came from the darkness behind me. It was a deep baritone voice with a Middle Eastern accent to it. We both turned with surprise to find the Gate Keeper stepping out of my brass circle at the far end of my laboratory, his long black robes flowing gently and his hood in place hiding his face completely in the dim candle light.

"Um, sir, were we expecting company?" I whispered quietly to Ebenezer.

"Not that I was aware of," he replied.

"How the hell did you get in here?" I asked more annoyed that he could do such a thing more than his actually being here.

"Warden Dresden, your wards are sound and formidable, but far from complete." He said with a bow.

"Wow, the Merlin really wanted to make sure I was watched closely on this one." I said to nobody in particular, with an air of disbelief and disgust.

"He did not send me, I am here of my own accords," said the Gate Keeper in a calm but serious voice.

"Okay," I stammered, "well, in that case, what can I do for you sir?" I asked more pointedly than I had intended.

"The necklace you have in the plastic bag, it must be put someplace where it will never be found." He said ominously pointing to the bag now laying on my work table giving off bad vibes.

"Why not take both and be done with them?" I asked rather taken aback.

"The other must not be destroyed, yet. It is in play for a purpose and the intentions of its last owner are the proper disposition for that item." He said mysteriously.

"What do you mean it's in play for a purpose?" asked Ebenezer in a suspicious tone.

"All I can say is that there are things to be learned by having it out in the open for a short time, things that will explain some of the recent goings on even within the White Council. However, I warn you, do not leave it unclaimed for long or it may be lost." He said.

"Unclaimed?" I asked. "So if Abbey simply puts it on then her relatives will leave her alone?" I asked incredulously.

"Abbey is the rightful heir, as her Aunt has gifted it to her. However, the pendant can only be truly claimed by one initiated into the circle of the sisterhood." He said quietly.

"Abbey isn't a part of the sisterhood and has only minimal powers, so it's not likely that she'll be recruited any time soon. Isn't it more likely that one of their heavy hitters will come and take it by force like Gregario had tried." I pointed out.

"Unless you can get her initiated into the sisterhood before that happens, Hoss." My mentor said with a twinkle in his eye.

"It is as you say." Replied the Gate Keeper.

Bobs eyes were dark but I was sure that he was listening in on all of this. I noticed the Gate Keepers gaze stop on Bob's skull for a moment then he looked at me with slightly raised eyebrows but didn't say anything.

"Time is short. I must take the other pendant and place it in a safe archive where it will cause no more trouble." The tall robed figure said somewhat impatiently.

"Give it to him Hoss, I get a bad feeling from that thing and the sooner it's out of this place, the better off we'll all be." Ebenezer said with a fatherly sigh. I grabbed the plastic bag off the table, it gave off a faint glow in the dim room. I could really feel the thrum of the necklace and in the confined area of the basement, the cold sticky feeling of black magic felt stronger. I quickly handed the bag to the Gate Keeper who promptly tucked it away in his robes. The heavy oppressive feeling subsided almost instantly.

"You have chosen wisely, Wizard Dresden. If you complete this task before you, you will do more good than you can ever know." The Gate Keeper said with an ominous tone to his voice but a friendly sparkle in his eyes. With that he stepped into my circle, waved his hand and simply shimmered for an instant and was gone.

"I have got to have him teach me how he does that Hoss." Ebenezer said watching the last of the light fade from the circle with a half-smile.

"Ya, neat trick, and then you could teach me." I said hopefully.

"Well considering he probably won't teach me that bit of magic for another hundred years, don't hold your breath." Ebenezer said with a grin. "Okay Hoss, I think I have the broad strokes, how about you fill me in on the details of what you've gotten yourself into and what we can do to help that young girl upstairs." Ebenezer said.

I took the next ten minutes telling him what had happened, showing him the necklace I had on hand and the pictures, papers etc. that I had received from Camilla. I also showed him the article in PentacleHouse that had started the whole mess. He frowned as he looked at the magazine and quickly browsed through the pages until he got to the very back where the page was marked and read the article with a smirk. He then pocked the magazine saying he may have to do more research later. Now it was my turn to smirk.

"So as it sit we have Abbey who doesn't want the necklace/medallion, but was supposed to have it. There isCamilla, looking for the necklace and who may or may not be a wizard. Then we have someone from undertown trying to get the necklace and lastly we have Gregario from Budapest looking for it for his sister." I said summing up the situation as best I could.

"Hoss, we need to talk to that Camilla person and find out where she stands in all of this and we need to understand her motives before we can sart to make a sound plan." Ebenezer said leaning against the work table with the replica of Chicago laid out across it's top.

As we came upstairs it seemed that between Murphy, Abbey and Molly they had filled Michael in on what had happened and that the girls were not anywhere near the gunplay. They had moved on to other topics like the pile of food that Michael had in the back of his truck from the company bar-b-q that he had held earlier this afternoon for his employees and their families. It seems that everyone had brought something and in the end they had more food than they needed. So Michael decided that I should share in the wealth. Which was good as although my apartment had been cleaned today my cleaning service saw fit to fill the pantry with snack cakes all individually wrapped. I guess Toot Toot and company had a sweet tooth today. So we traded sweets for some of the best bar-b-q north of the Mason Dixon line.

While everyone was filling their plates with potato salad, brisket, ribs and corn on the cob, Michael pulled me aside to say his goodbyes and ask if I needed anything or if he could be of any help. I asked him what it would cost to replace my battered security door with a new one, properly installed. He suggested some reinforcements and possibly additional concrete work, the whole thing should come to a little under a thousand dollars. I counted out twelve hundred dollar bills and handed them to Michael with a smile.

"This is probably too much," he said looking at the wad of bills.

"If there's any left over, just put it towards your Christmas party, so long as I'm invited." I said smiling back at one of my only, yet closest friends.

With a laugh, he pocked the money, "Harry, you're always invited, you just never show up." With that he shook my hand, hugged his daughter and waved to Ebenezer as he prepared to leave. Murphy took this opportunity to say her goodbyes as well as she had to get back to work. They left together closing the door firmly behind them.

I headed over to the feast, the ribs smelled heavenly. Molly told me that the ribs were a specialty of a young lady named Lyndsey. She was still in high school but knew how to cook ribs like a pro and it was one of her father's greatest pleasures to show off her impressive skills whenever possible. It turned out that the chocolate cake with a cream cheese mixture baked into the top of the cake was also one of her creations. It just went to show that there is magic everywhere and I could swear I tasted it in the ribs and Honey chipotle bar-b-q sauce on the side.

After we had eaten Molly offered to clean up and Abbey was happy to help as I have no TV, radio or computer in my house to keep her busy. Mouse lay in the corner of my tiny Kitchen helping to dispose of any meat or bones that may not have been sufficiently cleaned. He wagged his tale as he crunched on the bones from the beef ribs.

While the girls, women, worked in the kitchen Ebenezer and I sat in the living room. He pulled an aged pipe from his pocket and filled it with apple scented tobacco and lit it taking long pulls from the pipes stem and sending perfect smoke rings chasing each other through the room. I took this opportunity to phone Camilla and setup a meeting with her for a few hours later at a small coffee shop I knew near her Hotel. My mentor had agreed to come with me both to meet and question Camilla.

I took this time to charge my rings on my punching bag and charge the charms on my duster. Ebenezer rested on the couch and read from an ancient leather bound book that he had brought with him, the ornate lettering on the spine had long since work to the point that it was completely unreadable, still taking occasional puffs off of his pipe. The scent of his pipe had filled the room like a subtle incent, it was calming to the nerves and made the apartment seem more comfortable somehow.

Once I had finished, I cleaned up, gathered my gear and instructed the young ladies to sit tight and we'd be back in a few hours. We also instructed them not to open the door for anyone. With that we set out into the afternoon streets of Chicago. It was about four when we arrived at the coffee shop. Mouse curled up under a table outside the coffee shop that was far enough away from the bulk of the customers to provide us with some semblance of privacy.

Ebenezer sat down with our staffs leaning against his chair and scratched Mouse's ears while I went inside to get a couple of five dollar coffees. The shop was fairly upscale and a few blocks away from where my half-brothers hair salon used to be. It had been sold to one of his underlings for a ridiculously low price and although it didn't do the business my brother used to do, Molly told me it still had a two week waiting list to get in.

As I came out of the shop with a venti-tall-something or other in each hand I saw Camilla getting out of a taxi. I called to her as I walked over to the table we had selected. She was tall and was wearing a light sun dress that in the right light showed every inch of her well firmed and formed figure. She walked with an elegant grace of a dancer mixed with the slink of something feline as the dress played interestingly on her figure.

"Camilla, this is a friend of mine, Ebenezer, this is Camilla." I said setting the coffee in front of my mentor and taking a seat next to him. Camilla sat across from Ebenezer and somewhat next to me at the small table covered with an umbrella.

"How nice to meet you," Camilla said to Ebenezer, offering her hand.

"Likewise, miss." Ebenezer stood up and shook her hand, letting her sit before taking his seat again, a friendly look on his face.

"Camilla I asked you here because we need some questions answered in order to continue," I said honestly, but avoiding the fact that I had already found the necklace.

"Of course Mr. Dresden, I'm glad to help out in any way I can." She replied.

"This may sound odd, but has anyone ever told you that you have a, 'Family Gift'?" I asked.

"I'm not sure what you mean Mr. Dresden." She said her brows drawing together.

"A gift, the ability to know what someone is feeling or to move things without touching them." I clarified.

"Well, yes." She said leaning forward on her elbows. "My mother used to say I had inherited my Great Grandmothers gift, but mother died when I was young. I was raised by trust fund lawyers and nanny's most of my life." She said. "But every now and then, especially when I'm emotional… Things happen. Then about a year ago, my cousin Emily came to live with me. Evidently it's a family secret that we can do things. Emily has been trying to teach me how she does magic, but I'm afraid I'm a terrible student. Usually when we are trying to do something, I sort of zone out and usually don't remember half of what happened." She said in a quiet voice.

"Emily, what sorts of things does she have you help her with?" Ebenezer asked.

"Oh my, she's tried a few things, a finding spell, I remember that one, it failed miserably. Then she tried to summon a wind spirit, I don't remember much of that, but she said it didn't work either. There have been a few others, but like I said I get fuzzy when we start doing those things. Emily said it happens to some practitioners." Camilla finished with a distant look in her eyes.

"Did Emily suggest you come to Chicago?" I asked with a sneaking suspicion.

"Why yes. I showed her the picture of me and grandmother and she suggested that I should have it as something to remember her by. Since grandmother always wore that necklace, it seemed just the personal keepsake that would remind me of her." She said. "It's funny though, growing up I never really liked how it looked."

"Then why come after it, why now?" Ebenezer asked in a fatherly voice.

"Like I said, when Emily pointed it out, the thought just struck me and I suddenly really wanted to have it." She replied, looking a little perplexed.

"Did Emily come with you to Chicago?" I asked

"No, she had things to do back in California." Camilla answered.

"So, when you and Emily work together, how do you help if you're not trained?" Ebenezer asked in a soothing voice.

"Well, she mostly has me sit there and meditate with her at the start, we hold hands and chant to prepare, and then she keeps hold of my right hand as she does her thing. During the meditation, I usually zone out and don't come out of it until she's finished. Lately it's been exhausting." Camilla said leaning back in her chair, looking more tired simply remembering the experience.

"Camilla, I know you have just met us, but would you agree to a soul gaze with Hoss here?" Ebenezer asked to both my and Camilla's surprise.

"That depends, what exactly is a soul gaze?" she asked, looking weary of the idea.

"It's the reason most people won't look a wizard in the eyes." I said, turning to her. "It allows you to see into each other, to see the other for whom and what they truly are." I finished.

"How can this possibly help find a necklace?" she asked pointedly.

"Miss, I don't think you've been told, but there are others looking for this necklace and people have died over it already. We just need to know where you stand in all of this and it will give us a good idea of who you are and if you can be trusted." Ebenezer said calmly and in an even tone.

"Will it hurt?" she asked a little timidly.

"Not at all, but once you look into someones soul, you will always remember it. It's usually quite vivid." I said remembering the many soul gazes I had performed. How each left an indelible mark on me.

"Well, if it will help expedite the process, I suppose." She said sitting back with a resigned look on her face. "How do we begin?"

"Like this," I said, sitting up straight and looking directly into her eyes and she into mine.

I felt myself slide into her eyes, large pools of color swirling quickly and then I was standing in a large gallery. There were many breath taking pictures on the walls, scenes of family and friends together, seascapes, sunsets and portraits of happy loving people. There were pictures of buildings, animals, landscapes and all sorts of sketches. All of them were exquisite. Off to one side I saw Camilla with a brush in her hands, she was dancing gracefully and enchantingly as she ran her brush over a blank canvas the image simply congealed in the canvas, a small home on the side of a hill looking over the ocean, peaceful and serene every detail rendered perfectly. As she spun in her dance I saw that part of the back of her head had been shaved and there was a small silvery tube leading from the an infected, oozing cut on the back of her head to another person, hiding behind a pillar. She was a slight girl, dressed in dark tattered clothes with an angry face. She had blood red hair and freckles on her pale skin, her eyes were emerald green and narrowed in a hateful expression. She would take the tube into her mouth and suck, pulling glowing energy from Camilla, causing her to fall into a stupor. Then the girl would take Camilla's brush and paint the most abhorrent pictures imaginable. She painted one of a person having their mind ripped and shredded, another of a person dying a painful slow death. She would then give the brush back to Camilla and kept these paintings hidden under a pile of garbage in a dark dim corner. Then Camilla, although tired would continue to create the things of beauty leaving a tiny bit of herself in each painting and giving it a life and beauty all of its own. Then as suddenly as it had started I was once again looking into her deep brown eyes, which were tearing up with sadness.

"You are so alone and have so much pain but still you fight, you dear brave man!" she said falling forward to take me in her arms and began to sob on my shoulder. I looked over at my mentor and offered a weak smile. At least she didn't run away screaming.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

After a few moments she released me and steadied herself, smoothing her dress with her palms as she sat up with her head high and shoulders back. She was still a little dazed from the soul gaze but was recovering quickly.

"So, are you satisfied with what you have seen Mr. Dresden?" She asked as if about to break into tears as she mentioned my name.

"Yes." I said feeling a smile cross my face as I remembered her dancing and creating beautiful works of art almost effortlessly, "When you started working with Emily, did she have you go through an initiation ceremony?" I asked still remembering the dirty, vicious girl draining Camilla of her power to do terrible things.

"Yes. It was one of the few times we were in the circle together where I remember everything that had happened." She said her eyes seeming to focus on past memories.

"Could you perform the ceremony from memory?" I asked in a complicit tone.

"I suppose, I'd need a few things, but sure." She said with a curious look on her face as a smile spread across mine. I glanced at Ebenezer who had a satisfied look on his face as well.

"Camilla, can you give us a minute?" I asked

"Actually, I would kill for some coffee. So if you'll excuse me, I'll be right back." She said excusing herself to head into the coffee shop. The sun lit her dress as she walked away, showing her silhouette in dark shadow as she glided to the doors and entered the shop.

"What are you thinking Hoss?" Ebenezer said, pulling my attention away from my client as she left.

"It looks like this Emily is using her like a battery, using Camilla's power to do black magic." I said remembering the tube she was using to pull Camilla's energy.

"I sort of figured that one out for myself when she didn't remember what happened during the ceremonies." He said giving me a flat look.

"That and from what she said, it sounds as if she is being compelled to go after the necklace. This Emily is a nasty piece of work, the only bright spot is she isn't powerful and hasn't gotten to one of the necklaces yet." I said. "I think we need to introduce Camilla to her other cousin, Abbey." I finished.

"Hoss are you sure? If she's being compelled by this warlock then there's no telling what she'll do if she gets near the necklace or anyone trying to keep her from it." He finished.

"That's why you'll be watching her the entire time. If we can get her to initiate Abbey, she can claim the necklace and this whole thing is over." I said with a smile. See, simple, elegant and should be easy. Why did I have the sinking feeling that things were about to get a lot more complicated?

"I have an idea how to deal with Emily, Hoss. You leave her to me." He said as he got up. Using his staff as a walking stick, he headed over to the pay phones at the corner of the coffee shop, dropped in a few coins and started dialing.

I took a long drink off of my coffee and started to run the plan through my head. The warmth of the sun on my face felt good. My back and neck cracked as I leaned back shaking my head feeling the weight of my hair. I had let it get too long again and it was starting to get bushy. I heard the chair next to me slide on the pebbled paving stones of the seating area and leaned forward and opened my eyes. I had expected to find Camilla sitting across from me, instead there was a woman, late forties dressed in an impeccable red and black pant suit, her curly brown hair was up off her collar and her brown eyes wore just a hint of makeup to give them depth. She was definitely a relative having features of both Camilla and her grandmother, possibly another aunt? How big was this freaking family?

"Hello, Mr. Dresden." She said. "I don't have much time so I'll get to the point." She said and her words were accented by the click of the hammer of a large caliber hand gun being pulled into the firing position. "Gregario was an interloper and Camilla is a fool, if you want to survive this week, you will give me the necklace." She said her eyes narrowed and hard. It was clear she meant business and I could only assume she knew how to use the gun she held under the table aimed at some of my favorite organs. My staff was within reach but I didn't think I'd have time to raise a shield and grab my staff before she perforated my abdomen and left me to bleed out. We were in public so that worked to my advantage, no sense making a scene when we could just talk nice like normal people.

"I don't have it on me and I'm pretty sure you'd know if I did." I said in an unimpressed voice, picking up my coffee and taking a sip. It was a little too sweet but still it was coffee. "So what do we do now? If you kill me then you won't get it and if you stay here much longer things will get complicated, so what do you propose?" I asked setting the cup down on the table and giving her a flat stare. She avoided my eyes and I noticed an ornate bracelet on her left wrist, it looked like a silver charm bracelet that had an assortment of charms on it, however, it had many charms of one sort in various colors, they appeared to be little round scales that I recognized as shields.

"You will deliver the necklace to me tonight," she said producing a slip of paper from her bag, "be there at seven sharp or I will take it as a sign of bad faith." She said, moving her bag under the table before getting up and backing to the sidewalk, hand in bag, where a dark blue town car quickly pulled up. She turned quickly and got in and the car was moving away before the door was completely closed.

"Hoss, who was that woman?" Ebenezer asked as he walked up to the table.

"I just made a new friend." I said with a frown.

"With friends like that, you should cover your back a little more carefully." He said as he sat down.

"Someone else wants the necklace. She knew Camilla and Gregario, she called them both by name." I said shaking my head as I opened the slip of paper.

The paper was written in a flowing script, Water Front Park, West end, 7:00pm. That didn't leave us enough time to do the initiation. Normally these things are done at night after the moon has risen. It wasn't going to get dark until 9pm. Things are never simple.

"Hoss, I don't want you going alone and this throws a kink in our plans. I have things in motion to take care of this Emily but it will take a few hours. Until then I suggest we keep Camilla and Abbey apart. Even without training, Camilla can be dangerous to herself and others if things get out of hand. Once we know that Emily isn't pulling her strings maybe we can bring the two together, until then it's just asking for trouble." He said calmly and I knew he was right.

When Camilla came out from the shop, we told her that we had some errands to take care of but that we'd be in touch later tonight and hopefully we could get together again then. Camilla smiled sweetly and shocked me when she leaned over and hugged me tightly. Her warm body and sheer cotton dress against my body felt way too good. "You are a good man Harry Dresden" she whispered in my ear, her hot breath on my ear gave me goose pimples and sent warm tingling sensations all over my body. Then she pulled away and offered her hand to Ebenezer. When he touched her hand, I could see the surprise on both of their faces, then Ebenezer gave her a warm smile and patted her hand.

"Just sit tight miss, we'll get this all sorted out." He told her as he released her hand and handed me my staff, and collected his own.

"I'm sure you will sir." She said with a friendly smile as she took her coffee from the table and headed for the sidewalk, walking into the sunlight. I really do love summer, I thought as the last tingles were subsiding from her hug.

Ebenezer's elbow connected with my sore ribs just hard enough to get me to close my mouth and avert my gaze from her silhouette as she glided away.

"Um, ya, we should be getting back." I said.

We made our way to the blue beetle and then sputtered off into the city streets. Ebenezer suggested that we make a few stops on the way. We hit a few of the more well stocked occult stores and purchased some candles, a small cauldron and large bag of powdered chalk and a bag of course rock salt among other things. Once we had finished our shopping we headed back to my apartment.

As we pulled in to the small parking area, we hardly had any space to park as it was filled with a concrete truck, Michaels truck and there was a pile of debris laying off to the side of the house. As I got out of the car I saw my landlady coming from her apartment and start hobbling down the stairs.

"Um, give me a minute," I said to Ebenezer as I started for the front of the building.

"Mr. Dresden!" she started with an angry flush starting in her cheeks. "What are all these people doing here?" She demanded.

"He's a friend of mine, he's repairing my door." I said in a loud voice to be heard over the banging and sawing going on around the corner.

"What's wrong with your floor?" She demanded. "And why are they taking the siding off the building?"

"Door, they are fixing my Door." I said louder, "They will put everything back as soon as they are done." I said loudly trying to give her a friendly smile.

"Oh, so you won't be banging it every time you come in, at all hours I might add." She said giving me a disapproving look.

"Exactly!" I said as her look softened.

"You're a good boy Harry, just next time you need to let me know before you have anything done to my building." She said only half scolding.

"I didn't think they'd be here this soon, I was going to tell you this week. I'm really sorry about the noise." I said my cheeks turning a little red.

"It's okay, son." She said smiling. "I met the man doing the work, he seems like a nice man too. Just tell him not to work too late or start too early. The neighbors upstairs might complain." She finished.

I helped her up the stairs and as we got to the top, she turned to me with a sheepish look.

"Harry, I've noticed you've had a lot of lady friends over. Do we need to talk about adding anyone to the lease?" She said looking hopeful.

"Nothing like that, they will be gone in a day or so." I said blushing deeply.

"That's too bad, a nice man like you. You should really find yourself a good girl and settle down, Harry." She said with a kind smile.

"I've been hearing that a lot lately." I told her as she turned to go inside.

"I really like that Karin that keeps coming over. Molly is a good girl too. She helped me with my groceries the other day and we had tea. She doesn't dress well, but she's sweet too." She said giving me a wink before going inside and closing her door.

Now totally embarrassed and depressed thinking of my love life, I headed back down to the cacophony of hammers and saws at my front door.

"Michael!" I yelled. He took the piece of wood from his chop saw and turned to face me with a broad smile.

"Harry, we had a break in our other work and decided to get this handled for you since we had the time." He said, shouting to be heard over the noise.

"I hear you met my landlady." I said yelling at his ear.

"She's a sweet Lady Harry. She seems to like you." He said smiling a little wider.

"How long will this take?" I yelled.

"We've reinforced the landing and the support beams and are just now starting on the framework." He shouted back, pointing to the newly poured threshold that had small silver crosses laid into the drying concrete between the ends or the rebar poking out. "I added a little extra to it, just in case." He beamed. There were steel bars fixed to the 2X6's he had set as the outside of the frame for the door. There was a metal fire door with wood overlay that made it look like a standard door when the door was closed. It actually looked nicer than the original door and more secure than the door I had now.

"Are you sure what I gave you will cover this?" I asked loudly.

"You wouldn't believe the discount I got on this stuff, I'll probably owe you some money when it's all said and done." He yelled back shrugging his shoulders. "We're getting close to a stopping point. We can hang the door for tonight while everything sets, then tomorrow we'll finish attaching it properly and get the siding back on." He yelled.

"Fine." I Yelled back as the saws, compressor and generators all went off one by one. Leaving the side of the house quiet. My ears rang from the sudden quiet. "That's great, just don't start too early tomorrow, my neighbors tend to get up around 8 and they don't do well with loud noises." I said smiling.

"Not a problem Harry, I have some errands to run in the morning anyway." He said turning to one of his workers, he started giving instructions. I turned and went inside, stepping over the wet cement and tools lying here and there.

"So much for my wards," I said turning to Ebenezer.

"Don't worry. We can throw up a few temporary wards for tonight Hoss." He said smiling and admiring the craftsmanship of the framing. "I don't know what you're expecting to come at the door Hoss, but this will probably stop a tank when he's done." He said rubbing his chin.

"Michael has been here when I had uninvited guests." I said smiling.

As I continued into my apartment, Mouse was sitting up in the kitchen watching the workers go about their tasks. When I came close he turned to me, his tail wagging and his mouth fell opened with his tongue dropping out like it was too big to fit in his mouth. I stopped and kneeled down to scratch him behind his ears as he leaned into me, nudging my face with his head. Then refilled the food water bowls for him and Mister.

The phone rang and Molly answered it, then called to Ebenezer and handed him the receiver when he was close enough. There are times I wish I could have a cordless phone, but I'm sure I'd just end up losing it. Ebenezer spoke quietly and the conversation was short, before hanging up I heard him say, "Thanks and good luck on that other thing." Ebenezer gave me a nod letting me know that Emily had been taken care of.

There were a lot of duties I didn't like having to do as a warden but there were definitely times when I was glad we were there to do what we do. People like Emily and Gregario needed to be stopped. They thought that just because they had magic that they could twist it to use others as puppets. I don't know how much damage Emily had done to Camilla but I remembered how that oozing cut had looked puffy, red and infected, that couldn't mean good things for her psyche, but at least it was over.

Ebenezer and I set about laying some temporary wards on the door, stairway and surrounding building. It wasn't going to stop an army but it was still enough to give us warning of anything coming at us and give is a nice body slam when it got there.

The sun was making its way towards the horizon when I pulled the Blue beetle into Lake Front Park. I found a parking space as most of the families and packed it in for the day. There were some couples and young people walking around the water and lurking around the bar-b-q pits, but it was mostly empty. I parked the car and pulled my staff from the passenger seat and mad sure my blasting rod was in place under my duster as I climbed out of the car. The coat was a bit conspicuous in the warm summer evening, but with the week I was having so far, I wasn't going to this meeting without it.

The far West end of the park was fairly secluded as the path turned a bit inland and around a copse of trees and brush leaving a large circle of grass next to an old and rickety dock. On one of the benches sat the woman I had come here to meet. She was wearing the same pant suit and had the same large bag sitting under her right arm. She rose as I came around the corner and out of sight of the rest of the park. She smoothly slid her had into her bag as she came close.

"No sudden moves Wizard." She said calmly in a silky voice.

"Wouldn't dream of it, miss…" I paused waiting to get her name.

"Call me Fiona, Mr. Dresden," She said with a raised eyebrow. "Did you bring it?"

"Before we get to that I have a few questions for you." I said leaning on my staff carefully pushing power into it and my shield bracelet.

"We don't have time for twenty questions Mr. Dresden, either you brought it or not." She said frankly.

"Why do you want it?" I asked. She opened her mouth to answer but I cut her off, "I know what it is and if you want it then you must be part of the Sisterhood." I said flatly, looking her in the face. At the mention of the sisterhood she drew in a quick breath and her eyes widened a little.

"You are particularly well informed, Wizard. But I don't see how any of this concerns you." She said becoming a little impatient.

"It concerns me when young girls are attacked and people try to kill me, call me overly sensitive but I take it personally." I said letting some anger creep into my words.

"Like I said Gregario was a idiot and he has no rightful claim on the necklace, it's just as well that he's out of the picture." She said flatly. "As for the Sisterhood, let's just say that we've been biding our time and now after many centuries, we are in a position to regain our status and the White council is in no position to stop us." She said smiling.

"So what, you're going to come out of the shadows after all these years and take back what? Your lands? I believe it's already been spoken for and is now part of at least three different countries. So are you just going to kick everyone out?" I asked incredulously.

"Oh, no wizard. We aren't going to kick anyone out, we are simply going to take back our place in those lands. The mortals there once worshiped our leader as a Goddess and they will again. They will be our servants and we will rule them as it was in the old days." She said, her eyes lighting up and her face smiling with a fierce and malevolent grin.

"Do you honestly think for a moment that they will simply turn control over to you?" I said mockingly.

"Not me, wizard. My mistress, The Goddess of old. When the medallions are brought together at last by each of the families, each in the circle giving their power, the gates will open and bring back our leader, our beloved Goddess." She said in a shrill maniacal voice.

"So what then?" I asked. "You're going to take over Eastern Europe? Don't you think the rest of the world won't come after you? They have really big guns now you know." I said sarcastically.

"No Wizard, we are taking over the whole world. Mortal minds are easily enthralled, the world leaders will welcome us and gladly give control over to us. Their militaries will serve us willingly like the good puppies they are." She said fiercely. "All we need is the last necklace. That old bag, wouldn't give it to us and wouldn't go along with what we were going to do, so instead of waiting another two centuries for the old crone to die. I expedited matters." She said with an evil grin, "We have prepared for this for a long time and will not be denied by a puppet of the pathetic White Council." She spat her face becoming drawn and hateful. "Now give it to me!" she yelled her left hand outstretched.

"And if I say no?" I asked flatly trying to sound completely unimpressed.

"Then you shall die wizard." She said, her eyes widened and I felt her begin to draw power.

I turned my hand on my staff to point my rings at her and let the first band go. A lance of power simply jumped from my hand, hitting her square in the face, lifting her off of her feet and throwing her a few feet back onto the sun hardened ground. Her bag went flying and the wand she held fired a bolt of fire into the air, missing me by a good six feet as her head and shoulders hit the dry brown turf.

She howled with rage and sat up with blood running from her nose and lips, a fire burning in her eyes of pure rage and hate. She extended her left arm as I leveled my staff, runes glowing silvery orange. A sliver shimmering dome of energy suddenly surrounded her.

"You aren't the only one with trinkets." She said pulling a silver piece from her bracelet. She whispered a word to it and then threw it at my chest.

"Forzare!" I shouted and sent a shaft of power out of my staff hitting the silver charm in midair. It exploded like a bomb. I was lifted off of my feet and thrown a good five feet back and into the split rail fence that separated the grassy circle from the trees. My side screamed in pain at the impact. I found my feet as I saw her coming towards me with her wand or small rod, level at me.

I brought up my shield in a dome around me, learning from the incident with Gregario, as she shot a thin beam of intense heat and fire at my chest. It hit the shield a few feet in front of me and was deflected into the air. I thought I heard a bird squawk in pain somewhere above.

"Give me what is mine, wizard. You can't win this fight!" she snarled as the wind blew the curls out of her face.

"I usually hear that just before I wipe the floor with the person who said it, it really pisses me off!" I snarled back and realized that it really did.

"You arrogant fool!" she cried.

"You… crazy, egomaniac!" I yelled back, suddenly unable to think of a better come back and nearly sticking my tongue out at her for good measure.

"I'm NOT Crazy!" she screamed eyes suddenly wide and mad with rage. What can I say? I've always had a way with the ladies.

She turned her hands palms up and her fingers came up to form claws, she raised her hands and turned to point her palms at me. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a column of water rising from the lake and arch directly at me. I flattened one side of my shield and angled it slightly while pressing magic and soul fire into my shield and staff. The water bounced off of my shield and sprayed towards Fiona. She crouched and braced for the weight of the water to hit her shield and just as it was about to hit, I leveled my staff and said, "Fugeo!"

A shaft of silvery orange light shot out of my staff and hit the water and it erupted violently into a cloud of superheated steam. Fiona screamed in pain as the steam blew into the silvery dome she had constructed. Although it may stop magic and solid objects, the steam blew over her blinding her and scalding her exposed skin and likely her lungs as well. She dropped her wand and simply fell to the ground, her shield simmered and was gone, and she lay there still on the wet grass.

I stood there for a moment, staff held ready and she didn't move. I saw her chest heaving for breath. I took a step forward and her mad eyes sprung to life as she ripped another charm from her bracelet and hurled it at me in one motion. Surprised at her speed I didn't have time to react, except to force more power into my shield.

The charm expanded into a long silvery ribbon as came at me. The ends of the charm hit the shield and attached themselves, then began snaking around the shield, glowing stronger and stronger as it took more and more effort to keep the shield up. Soon I was panting for breath as my shield buckled and the silvery ribbon contracted and pulled my arms against my body then wrapped my chest and thighs in its silvery tendrils dropping me onto my back. I could feel it pulling the power out of my staff and even my rings. I tried to close my mind to the silver bands as they tightened around me, trying to strip the very magic from my body. I concentrated and was able to lock it out of my head but not without great effort and I wasn't sure how long I could hold it off.

"You see wizard, I told you that you could not win this fight." She rasped with a gleeful look on her face, her eyes still betrayed the madness that dwelt behind them as she leaned over my body, sitting beside me. I looked away because I didn't want to look into the soul of this crazed megalomaniac, I'd seen enough horrific things in my life, I didn't need any more horrors I couldn't get rid of.

"Now I will take what is mine, then I will add your power to that already in the necklace and you will help us to usher in a new age for humanity, as our slaves. Then we will eradicate the phages from this world and it will be truly ours." She said as if reading off a grocery list, with a twisted, evil smile on her face that made my skin crawl and stomach turn as her hands began to fumble in my pockets.

"Why do you crazy people always go after the world? Have you ever thought of just starting with Australia?" I spat back at her. "How is it that you always try to take it all at once? How about starting with the Philippines? It's small but centrally located. You could push to china or the Pacific Rim countries from there, you know, start small. But NO! You have to come to MY TOWN and declare that you're going after the whole enchilada! What kind of response do you expect?" I snarled. "Now I'm giving you this one chance to run like hell and never come back. Otherwise when I get up, Lady or not, I'm going to kick your insane butt back over the pond to wherever it is you came from!" I said writhing in pain, hardly able to speak much less move while trying desperately to fight off her charm.

"I told you," she said baring her teeth and pointing her wand at my head then slowly she spoke again in almost a whisper speaking each word distinctly, "I'm NOT Crazy!" Her wand began to glow as she pointed it at my temple. I could feel my strength weakening, holding back the silver ribbon out of my head, from devouring my strength, power and my mind.

"All the same, you're still a bitch." Ebenezer's voice came sternly from behind the witch, her eyes widening in suprise and anger. His black gnarled staff made a heavy dull thud as it smashed into the back of her skull. Her body fell limply across my chest, sending shooting pains through my ribs and back. Ebenezer waved his staff horizontally over my body and the silver ribbon evaporated with a hissing sound as my strength flowed back into my body, the pressure in my head subsiding blissfully into a dull pounding headache.

My mentor rolled the limp body off my chest with his steel toed work boot and then offered me his hand to help me up. I grabbed my staff and then his hand and stood, looking down at the woman who would be queen, or duchess maybe. Her clothes were rumpled and her skirt had slid up her legs to show the well-toned muscles of her calves and thighs her tailored jacket pulled up above her waist revealing her silk blouse pulled tight around her. I almost felt sorry for her.

We gathered her things and quickly bound and veiled her, then levitated her off the ground and took her back to Ebenezer's truck. He had parked on the street closer to this end of the park so as not to be seen, which was good because I was too tired to hold the levitate spell much longer. Once secured under a tarp in the bed of his truck, Ebenezer turned to me.

"Are you going to be okay to drive back, Hoss?" He asked.

"Ya, I'll be fine. I'll see you there in a few minutes." I said rubbing the back of my head and neck trying to relieve the pounding in my skull.

"If yer sure." He said giving me a long hard look.

"I'm good sir. I'll be right behind you." I said and turned to head back to the blue beetle as the truck roared to life behind me and pulled off into traffic.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

I was lost in thought as I headed back to the car in the last vestiges of twilight. We had one of 'The Sisterhood' on ice. Now we could get some real answers. Also maybe we could work out a deal to get some protection for Abbey as well.

I don't remember what happened first, if I noticed the quiet of the parking lot or the creepy icy feeling going up one side of my body. I would love to say I am that quick on my feet, but truth be told it was reflex or instinct that caused me to pull up my shield, because there was no rational thought behind it. The black flabby body came crashing out of the shadows of the tree line with an inhuman speed and slammed into my barely formed shield. I staggered back a few paces, my chest and back screaming in pain from the sudden jarring. The vampire slid over my shield and landed on the ground with a satisfying thud as I reached for my blasting rod. There was a blur of motion in my peripheral vision as I pointed the rod at the belly of rubbery phage at my feet and coughed, Feugo! A fine orange beam of light jumped from the end of the wood and sliced the thing in half. It let out a loud scream of pain and terror and even missing its lower half it tried to claw its way back towards the tree line. This guy wasn't your usual red court lackey. With another push of energy I fired another blast of superheated fire into the back of its head causing a sick hissing sound just before it exploded sending red, gray and black goo onto anything within a five foot radius.

As I looked up I saw another dropping in an arc as if to land behind me, it must have been at least fifteen feet off the ground. I spun my rod and pushed my rage, fear and pain into the rod and released it with a vengeance. The blast of energy caught the vampire in the belly and doubled him over. There was the cracking sound of a large bone being snapped and this one too howled in pain and rage as the energy of the blast reversed his course sending him/her, it tumbling in the air back the way it had come. It's arms flailed and blood was raining down as if from a macabre sprinkler, as it slammed into a tree limb, impaling it high in the tree. Fangs bared it screamed again and tried to free itself but its blood sack had been ruptured and was leaking down the trunk of the tree. It slowly stopped moving and finally went limp.

Note to self: Next time, ride back with McCoy!

My heart was racing and I was having a hard time getting air into my lungs as each breath came with a new adventure in pain. I felt myself becoming tired as well as I scanned the area, still feeling the sticky cold feeling that meant that there were more vampires on hand and they were close.

I made my way to the Blue Beetle and was pulling open the trunk as another blur rounded the end of my car, pausing only long enough to orient on me and then charge. He/she/It didn't stop for long but it was long enough. As it rushed me I brought up my shield again as I grabbed a large plastic sack out of the trunk. I was shoved hard into the car bumper by the force of the creature hitting the shield. The vampire was forced back about and was now maybe ten feet away as I pulled an orb from the bag. The orb itself was only the size of a grapefruit and was a cheery yellow with, "Happy Birthday!" written in small letters on either side of it.

"Catch!" is said as I tossed the orb quickly in a low arc at the things face. It lashed out with one of its sharp claws to bat the thing away, but instead it exploded with a quiet gush. The liquid filling the orb splashed down the arm and across the body of the creature. It screamed in surprise and pain as any spot touched by the liquid ignited in a white hot fire and began to devour the creature. Black greasy smoke began to pour from its abdomen and the arm it had hit the balloon with was now a smoking stump and there were smoking pit marks on its face where drops of the holy water had hit it. I dropped a few more balloons in a semi-circle in front of my car as the thing tried to back away, however one of the balloons was very full and the splash covered the things feet and legs from its knees down. I couldn't help but be reminded of Dorothy and the Wicked Witch as I watched the thing fall to the ground melting and screaming. I leaned into the trunk and grabbed my secret weapon as the hood came crashing down on my shield.

I pulled myself out of the trunk to see a new vampire standing on the roof of my car bouncing in anticipation and denting my roof. I looked the thing in the face, smiled and said, "Hasta la vista baby!" and flipped the on switch to my 100' super soaking squirt gun. It took 4 C cell batteries, but they were fresh. The stream of holy water was about an inch thick and the thing lived up to its name. As I fired it tried to jump over the top of me, but I lead it by about three feet and covered the creature from head to foot and all orifices in between that I could get a line on. It landed a howling, melting, greasy, smoking mess. Fangs and claws pitted or melted off as it slowly disintegrated into a black pool of ooze and stink.

I stood there turning a slow circle, using the last of my strength to keep up the shield spell in case there were any other unfriendly things lurking about. As I reached out with my senses I could feel the cold and sticky sensation quickly retreating from the area. As I looked at the carnage quickly disappearing in the family oriented park, I couldn't help myself from turning towards the fleeing vampires and screaming, "AND DON'T COME BACK!"

I chuckled to myself as I put my new toys back into my car and released my shield. I had to remember to thank Father Forthill for blessing the 50 gallon barrel of water I had brought in earlier this month. I wasn't sure if this would work in real life as well as it had in that movie, but I wasn't disappointed.

I was very tired now, I had been throwing a lot of magic around today and must have tapped my soul fire in this last battle. I remember closing the hood and then getting into the car feeling really light headed. I fumbled with the keys and then I was suddenly floating in a sea of blackness.

I was unconscious so I don't expect this to make a lot of sense because you kinda had to be there. I wasn't warm or cold, it wasn't an intimidating darkness nor was it comforting it just was. I just was and I felt like I was holding my breath and could do so forever just to keep from breaking the silence. I felt a presence, it was on the periphery of my perception, I knew it and trusted it implicitly, I knew I was safe as I floated in the quiet darkness. Somewhere there was a slight vibration, like small ripples on a pond as I started to notice it I heard soft faint chanting in the distance but it didn't count so much as a sound as a physical thing. I felt the energy associated with it. Like this place it was neither good nor evil, it was balanced, neutral, neither creation nor entropy but still part of both and tied inexorably to the fate of either of the two. I don't know how I knew this, but it just was and its existence was just that plain and simple. Kind of like the way you don't have to tell a duck that it's a duck for it to do the things that a duck does. This thing and place just was what it was and did what it did and being a part of it I knew it for what it was, because it was a part of me and I was a part of it, and we were.

I heard a faint sound, almost a buzzing but it wasn't constant. It came in short bursts and I could almost hear it, but really didn't want to because I was so comfortable and at peace. Then the peace was shattered, mostly across my left cheek as pain splashed across my face and I felt my head jerk slightly to the right. "Hoss! Hoss wake up boy!" and then there was a more frantic familiar voice, "Harry, wake up. HARRY, you're scaring me!"

I heard them but I was still clinging to my quiet place like a sleeping bag, trying to pull it over my head and make the world go away. Then I felt another feeling across my face, this time wet, warm and smelled like doggy breath. This sensation wiped away the safe place where I'd been floating like an eraser can wipe away the background in a cartoon, leaving me awake again, Damn it!

I found myself sitting in my car with Mouse's large brown eyes staring into mine as if studying me. The he let out a low Woof and crawled out of my lap as if satisfied that I was okay. I looked around and Ebenezer, Molly and mouse were all around the driver's door of the blue beetle looking at me worried. I saw Abbey standing behind them, looking nervous.

"Hoss, are you okay?" asked my mentor his face ashen and the lines on his face seeming deeper.

"Ya, I'm fine. I just ran into a little bit of trouble when I got back to the car." I said pointing to my dented roof. "A red court team jumped me, I killed four and I think two more bugged out." I said as my head cleared.

"Damn it, Hoss. You have to be more careful." the old man said with a relieved sigh.

"Boss, um, when we got here your car was… hard to find." Molly said, her voice a little hesitant.

"What do you mean hard to find?" I asked confused.

"It was like a veil, your car was here it just blended in, we looked right at it but didn't notice it until Mouse started barking." Molly said with a little red appearing on her cheeks.

"Ya Hoss, it was the damndest thing, if your pooch hadn't jumped out and started barking we would have probably left and gone looking for you at Macs." Ebenezer said with a look of concern on his face. "If that's a ward you put on your car, it was a hell of an idea son." He said looking partly confused and partly impressed.

"No, I didn't do it, I tried putting wards on the car once but they kept causing the car to break down." I said with a shrug remembering how Bob had used that against me for over a year.

"We'll figure it out later. Right now we have to move." He said, "Let Molly drive, I'll follow you back to the house." He said as mouse let out a deep growl.

I got out of the car to circle around to the passenger seat there was a loud deep POP, then the sound of something metallic hitting the ground, immediately followed by a loud BANG! And a flash of light and concussion that threw me into the car. Things went hazy again as another concussion and loud bang threw me across the hood of the car, sending pain through my chest and back causing someone that sounded a lot like me to let out a very loud scream. I heard Molly gasp and then grunt as the waves of force threw her past the front bumper of my car and dropped her hard onto the ground. There were the quiet pops of silenced rifles firing rounds and I heard the ticking sound of spent rounds hitting the ground in quick succession. My sight cleared for a moment and I saw Mouse lying in a pool of blood next to Ebenezer who was convulsing at the end of a Taser. Then everything went black.

It wasn't a comfortable floating feeling this time, I was out, no sensation until what I assumed was some hours later. I felt my chest burning, back aching and my head was pounding but I was fairly rested. I don't need much sleep. For a moment I considered letting myself fall back into unconsciousness until things felt better, then I remembered seeing Mouse lying limp in a pool of blood and Ebenezer being attacked and suddenly the rage and anger filled me, the pounding in my head went from a throbbing headache to the pounding of war drums.

As I opened my eyes I found myself looking up at the sky. It was dark out and we must have been some way from town as I could see in the blackness of the new moon, the myriad of stars that one can only see when in the country, away from the glow of the city and its millions of lights. The stars shown down upon me, like a shower of ancient light. We were in a small clearing near what appeared to be an old growth forest, standing there ancient and enduring. There was power in this place. I could feel a light pressure and tingling against my skin that was radiated by the plants, ground, trees and even the very air here seemed to hold on to an ancient and dormant power.

My hands and feet were bound. Thankfully my hands were tied in front of me so I still had circulation in them as I lay on my back. I heard a groan from my left as I turned to look I saw Molly's dark hair move next to me. Next to her lay Abbey and past her I saw Ebenezer's form lying quiet, his chest was moving so I knew he was at least still breathing. In the distance I heard quiet talking, a man and woman were discussing something and they were obviously not agreeing. Then I heard other voices next to them, quiet but insistent. I calmed my breathing and both extended my senses and listened closely. I could just hear what they were saying.

"This wouldn't be a problem if you're red court flunkies had done their job!" a male said pointedly.

"He was weakened, he should have fallen easily." another man said getting annoyed, "Who carries balloons and squirt guns full of Holy Water?"

"I will from now on, seemed to work out rather well for him, don't you think." A female voice purred.

"They are White Council! Kill them while they are still unconscious." One of the male voices insisted.

"They are of gifted blood. We do NOT kill our own!" one of the female voices replied sharply.

"They are gifted, true, but they are not of us." one of the women said more thoughtfully.

"They are two of the more powerful wizards on the council and their witches are also from strong lines. Their children would carry their power and that is worth keeping them around for. We could use their power and their children would add strength to our numbers!" the first female voice said.

"So you intend to enthrall a senior council member and another of the white council for their seed?" asked another male incredulously.

"Not enthrall, charm them." The first women's voice said.

"Interesting idea," the second woman's voice said, "A Love potion perhaps or were you thinking of going directly into their minds?"

"We do not want to damage their minds, only persuade them to join us. They have proven themselves worthy and resourceful. They would be strong allies. The tall one has quite the reputation in this country, he may join us outright." The first woman said. "Otherwise a memory enhancement and a persuasion spell should do nicely and the love potions may be a good way to hedge our bets as well."

"I still think that we would be better off just slitting their throats and dropping them into the middle of the lake." The male voice came back pointedly. "We haven't been in open war with the White Council for over five hundred years, why start that up now when we are so close?" he asked.

"That's your problem Edmund, always thinking small and short term." The second female said in a mocking tone. "These two could lead the charge at the council once we are done here and if they fail, we move in in force and decimate Edinburgh. With the Goddess at our side, none shall stand before our fury!" She said with a cackling laugh at the end.

"Has anyone heard from Emily? She was sent to collect Camilla, poor dear, all this time and she still doesn't know who or what she really is. Tonight she will truly become one of our sisters." The first woman said.

"Emily hasn't checked in yet but she has another hour. You know her, very unreliable. She's probably in a bar flirting with anything in pants." Edmund said with distain in his voice.

"Don't be silly, she knows how important this is to us and what will happen to her if she fails us again." The second female voice said.

What they didn't know is that the Carlos Rodriguez had already paid Emily a little visit and taken her to the senior council and she wouldn't be going anywhere except to the L.A. County morgue as a Jane Doe, less her head.

My head raced, this may buy us some time to get out of this mess if they are waiting for Camilla, as her escort would never come by to gather her.

Then I heard Molly stir again, "Boss?" she whispered.

"I'm here grasshopper, keep it down, they aren't far off." I said in a quiet whisper.

"Tell me this is part of the plan." She said in a hopeful tone.

"Wasn't part of mine, but they seem awful happy with themselves." I whispered, nodding towards the voices in the distance.

Then I heard a low, guttural groan and looked down past my feet. There lay a large mound of gray and brown fur. Mouse was alive and seemed to be breathing, albeit shallowly. His eyes were closed but his paws twitched and eyelids flickered as if he were dreaming of chasing squirrels. He didn't seem to be bleeding and with another low groan, he began to give off a faint silvery green glow. It was very dim and subtle, as if the ends of each hair were reflecting the starlight. Then his breathing began to deepen and his eyes opened as he seemed to cough/gag once and something that looked like a brownish red fur ball came out of his mouth. He gave a little sneeze and looked around. When he saw Molly and I he stretched and then walked over to us, using only three of his legs and plopped down between us still weak. He then proceeded to wash our faces with his enormous tongue. What can I say, he's tough.

A plan started to formulate in my head, oaky not an A-team or Mission Impossible plan, it was more of an outline still working itself out in my head, but it was something.

"Molly, can you get free?" I asked.

"I tried, my hands are tied pretty tight. How about you?" she asked struggling with her bonds.

"Hold up your hands so I can see them and then don't move." I said quietly. She lifted her hands up and held them out in front of me. I rolled onto my side and brought my hands up between my face and her hands. I turned my right palm up and muttered a couple nonsense words, very quietly. Then an orange orb of compacted fire appeared in my palm about the size of a quarter. I willed it to move forward until it touched the first of band of rope around her wrists. It only took a moment, then it snapped and then the next. She then pulled her hands away and I stopped feeding the orb power and let it simply pop out of existence as Molly quickly freed her hands.

Once freed, Molly turned away from me, and then turned back with a small knife in her hand. I didn't want to speculate where she had hidden the small blade but was glad she had it. Soon she and I were free.

I heard Molly rouse Abbey as I moved over towards Ebenezer, as quietly and stealthy as I could. Being 6' 7" it's hard to be stealthy but I tried. Ebenezer was out cold it seems that the Taser really did a number on him. Ebenezer was moving towards consciousness slowly moving his head. Molly made quick work of Abbeys ropes and the two moved over to see if they could help with Ebenezer. Molly was looking at the ropes on the older gentleman's hands then we were spotted.

"Hey Stop!" yelled Edmund as he turned a flashlight our direction.

"Molly Veil and get yourself and Abbey out of here. We'll be right behind you." I snapped as I grabbed the knife from her hands. She grabbed Abbeys hand and they simply vanished. It suddenly occurred to me that I had my duster on, but I was missing my shield bracelet, rod and staff. I did however have my rings still on my slightly swollen fingers. This should get interesting.

Mouse tried to stand but one of his back legs buckled causing a painful yelp. I cut the ropes around Ebenezer's wrists and then leaned over to stash the now closed knife in Mouse's collar and scratch his ears as Edmund came closer. He was accompanied by another person as I could distinctly hear two sets of feet coming over the thick turf. I could hardly see anything as the flashlight was aimed at my face and my eyes lost the ability to focus in the low light for a moment. I was only seeing large white, black and purple dots in my vision. I pulled my duster closed and hooked one or two of the buttons on my chest.

"Don't Move wizard." The voice of a female purred nearby. I could make out the glowing tip of a rod leveled at me. I slowly raised my hands and shushed Mouse as he began to let out a low growl.

"Where are the other two?" Demanded Edmund.

"What other two? It was just me the dog and old man when I woke up." I lied in reply.

"Where are the two girls?" the other voice purred from the darkness with a slight pout to her voice.

"I don't know, maybe they had to go to the bathroom. You know women can't seem to do that by themselves." I said with a smile slipping onto my face.

"No matter," the female purred, "You see, Edmund here has been making nice with the phages of the red court. Well, when they heard your name come up they were happy to loan use a number of their underlings. So if they escaped into the forest, they will be found very soon, but I fear never seen again." She said with an, "oops" in her voice at the end.

"Edmund, aren't you the social butterfly." I said my eyes beginning to focus again.

"He is, you know the white court would have nothing to do with him, poor thing. The red court was happy to talk to him though. It seems that we have a common enemy in the white council." She said as if talking to a girlfriend. "I also hear that you and your friend here don't have a terribly good relationship with them either and he's a senior council member." She said in a voice smooth and silky.

"Let's just say that we have philosophical differences with some of the entrenched management." I said trying to sound diplomatic.

"As do we," she purred again, moving closer and from behind the glare of the flashlight. She was average height, fire red hair, pale skin and light blue eyes. She was wearing a silk ceremonial robe of black and obviously little under it as a cool mountain breeze pushed her hair and her robe back. She could have been anywhere from late twenties to late thirties, in the light it was hard to tell but she was still striking, even in the low light. "Perhaps we should talk, unless you would like to duel Edmond perhaps? Oh but I see you have no weapons, such a pity. He does need a good thrashing now and again to let him know his place." She smiled pulling her full lips across her face, making her pert nose wrinkle near the eyes.

"Alicia, what are you doing?" Edmund demanded safely behind his flashlight.

"Talking to our new guests Edmund, you should try it some time. It's amazing what one can accomplish by having a civil discussion." She purred as she squatted down and gave me a closer look. "I think he can be trusted for now." She wore a perfume that was both sweet and musky at the same time. The sweet and sensual scent filled my head giving my body and subconscious a lot to think about as she sat on her feet smiling at me. "What do you say Wizard, a truce for an hour while you and I talk," She purred through her smile. "I promise that you and your friends will be safe from any harm from me or my people, does that work for you?" she asked.

"What about the vampires? I seem to be missing two members of my group." I asked politely, mostly, okay I growled a little.

"I have no sway over them and would never think to speak for those monsters, hideous creatures really." She said with distain. "I can only speak for myself and my people. From them you will have nothing to fear. As for your friends, unless they return I can offer no such protection." She said, her head high and shoulders back in the glistening robes. "Do we have a deal or no?"

"How about we ask Edmund to call off his hounds?" I asked trying to maintain my smile.

"No can do, buckaroo." He said in a really bad John Wayne voice somehow mocking me, "It's after night fall and they are hunting. Even if I could find them at the moment, I don't think they'd listen. You are more than welcome to go out and talk to them yourself wizard Dresden." He finished with in his normal Eastern European accent and speaking my name as if it was an accusation.

As if in answer to his question, deep in the forest there was an enraged howl of pain from something inhuman, then another that seemed to end in a gurgle and then all went quiet again. I felt a warm glow of pride well up inside me somewhere. She may not be the most powerful wizard I've met but my apprentice was formidable in her own ways.

"Na, it looks like my friends are taking care of them, but thank you for the offer." I gave a fierce grin at the light in my face. "Sure, let's talk." I said smiling at the stunning woman next to me.

Promises were exchanged and Ebenezer was moved about fifty yards to a cot next to a large pickup with two sets of tires under the bed. I was lead past a large fire and into a tent by the nice lady, Edmund as it turned out had 'other things' he was responsible for and went to tend to them. The tent was nearly empty except for a few cots and a card table with four folding chairs. We sat across from each other and after asking if I'd like anything she had another woman bring us each a can of coke and she handed me a large bottle of aspirin. I took the aspirin followed by a large drink of coke, which fizzed a little too much and left the aspirin taste in my mouth. I really hate it when that happens.

"You may call me Alicia," She began. "You know that the red court and white council are at war but what you may not know is that the red court has been reaching out to others that are both part of the Unseelie accords and those whom are not. Although we have no love for the white council, neither do we wish to see our fellow wizards destroyed. However, if the white council decides to try to stop us, we will have no choice but to strengthen the other courts and those who move against you indirectly." She said looking serious, but with a touch of a smile in her eyes.

"So either we play nice and help you to open the outer gates or if we manage to stop you, you will throw in with the red court. Sounds like a veiled threat to me." I said.

"Not a threat so much as a cause and effect. Surely you can see that our options are limited." She said with a wolfish smile.

"So what exactly do you have planned with this little shindig?" I asked leaning back in my chair. As I did I saw Mouse walking slowly into the tent, favoring one hind leg. "Over here boy." I motioned for him catching his doggy smile. He walked over slowly and dropped down at my feet as she spoke.

"We are simply trying to ply our craft here as our ancestors did a millennium ago. You feel it important to use your gift and have made quite a reputation for yourself for it. Still the white council treats you like an outlaw. It's sad really, they council is as stubborn and rigid as they were when it was first formed and nothing has changed." She said with a faraway look in her eye. "We choose to live outside their rule and shall continue to do so. If you interfere we have no choice but to consider that an act of war." She looked at me eyebrows slightly raised and eyes a little more narrow at that last part. The council was already stretched thin as it stood, the last thing we needed was an underground group of practitioners, some powerful, to step up and take pot shots at us as we fought off the red court. I'd already started one war and I wonder what the Merlin would say if he learned that I had started another? Since the Merlin didn't like me much and I was training someone he assumed to be a warlock I was pretty sure he'd find a way to bring a sword down on me for that, if not on Molly too. However if I threw in with this bunch, I was sure to get dead if not by a warden then likely by Edmund. I just Love politics.

"Somehow I don't think that enslaving humanity would go over too well with the council, even if you do have your own personal god on your side, I think they'd put up a ruckus." I said with a grim look on my face.

"We have no intention of enslaving humanity, simply reorganizing it. We can put a stop to the wars and suffering. We can focus humanity on the problems that face it and take greed, need and poverty out of the way. I know change is scary, but we can truly help solve the world's problems, if they will just hear us out." She said with a smile spreading across her face, sounding perfectly reasonable and genuine.

"Letting them focus on things like serving your group?" I asked.

"No, each other. We will have them work to feed the hungry and educate all children and work to cure their illnesses. We can also train the gifted and lead the rest. I'm sure that things will be, difficult for them at first, but when they see the benefits, they will be glad for it. I'm sure that there will be a few who will wish to serve us or even worship us as in the old days, but that will only be a small minority." She said still sounding perfectly normal and reasonable, except she was talking about using mortals as laborers. Sure there would be no wars, they wouldn't allow it.

"What happens to those who don't want to be part of your world order? What if, say a group decided to blow up your castle?" I asked perfectly reasonably.

"Then they would need to be dealt with. We'd eliminate those who were causing the problem. I assure you our interrogation techniques are very effective." She finished.

"What's in it for me and my friends if I buy in?" I asked in a very serious tone of voice.

"Well," She began to purr again, her eyes sparling and slightly widening "you would have many fringe benefits. Once you had proven your loyalty and been accepted, you could have just about anything you've ever wanted. Land, power, money and as a practitioner with strong power, you'd be one of the ruling class and a very eligible bachelor in our circle." She gave me a suggestive smile and stretched with a feline grace, pulling her robes tight over all the best parts.

"I hate to burst your bubble but most of my best friends are mortals and I really don't think they are going to take too kindly to being herded like cattle." I said frankly.

"But Harry, don't you see they are cattle. They live where they are told, they work when they are told and do what they are told. They are raised that way since birth and the white council is trying to do that to you. Don't you see this?" She said pushing a few stray hairs out of her face and behind her ear, "The very few that are gifted with the ability of leadership are mostly corrupt and use the masses to raise them up and rule over them. How is this any different?" She said honestly not getting it.

"Because now, people can choose where to live, what to do, and how they live their lives. You would have them as a surf class in your fiefdom. Torturing and killing all who stand in your way like a tin horn dictator." I said giving her a serious look. "That and how do we know that once your Goddess makes it over that we won't end up being her slaves? What makes you think for a second that she isn't just like you? I'm sorry but if I have to choose between how things are now, in an imperfect world or a Theocracy that is likely to enslave not only the mortals but those who try to put it in place. I have to go with the status quo." I said leaning back in my chair, folding my arms over my chest. Mouse, who had been snoozing at my feet for a while gave a loud sneeze as if in agreement.

"I'm truly sorry you are so short sighted. You could have been a king if you so chose." She said rising from her chair. "At least you'll get front row seating to the ushering in of a new age." Then she turned to leave, stopping at the door of the tent and looked at me with a mix of pity and sorrow, "Enjoy your last minutes as a free man wizard." Then she walked into the darkness.

I reached down and scratched Mouse behind the ears and closed my eyes. I heard Alicia walk past McCoy and speak to a man who was grabbing things off the truck.

"How are the preparations going?" she asked curtly.

"We are just about ready. The alignment won't be for another forty-five minutes so everything will be done in plenty of time." He replied in a subservient manner. I almost expected a m-lady at the end.

"Alicia!" called Edmund, "She's here."

At this I rose from my chair and walked to the door of the tent, followed by Mouse, still hobbling. From the door I could see Edmund and Camilla coming into the ring of light from the fire, Edmund was holding her upper arm firmly 'guiding' her to the camp.

"Where is Emily?" Alicia snarled. Good question, I thought and how the hell did she get away from Ramirez?

"She said she had to go back through the ways to grab something important and that she would be here well in time for the ceremony." Camilla said confidently.

I saw Camilla notice me in the doorway and her gaze quickly went to Alicia and she continued, "She said she'd have a beautiful Chorizo for you when she gets back."

"A what?" stammered Alicia.

"I have no idea, I thought you would know." She said simply with a shrug. I smiled and walked over to check on Ebenezer. He'd want to be awake for this.

Alicia walked away in a huff and disappeared into the darkness and Camilla was ushered to another tent to prepare for the ceremony as another inhuman scream cut through the night. Then a few moments later it was followed by a screeching howl as if something in the darkness was dying a painful death. Ya, Ebenezer needed to be up for this.

I was able to get a few bottles of water from a chest in the back of the truck, as our truce was still on I didn't think they would mind. Ebenezer sat up slowly and sipped at the water as his eyes cleared.

"How long have I been out for Hoss?" He asked groggily.

"I'd guess three hours maybe four. I've been up for about an hour myself. Molly and Abbey slipped into the forest before we learned it was full of red court vampires keeping a perimeter." I said with a solemn look. "By my count she's killed at least four so far."

"Hoss, I have to hand it to you. I don't know many apprentices who could handle four reds on their own." He smiled with his mouth but his eyes looked concerned, as did mine.

"I have to get her out of there, sir." I said in a low voice.

"Hoss, if you go running into the woods at night you are more likely to get yourself killed than save her. With her veils, you could run right behind her and neither of you would know the difference." He said making more sense than I wanted to hear at the moment.

"Then I guess I'll have to announce myself and light up the place a little." I replied with a wolfish grin on my face. Ebenezer was about to say something but was cut off by a commotion coming from the direction that Edmund and Camilla had come from.

"He's MINE! I get to kill that bastard myself!" Fiona's voice echoed shrilly in the clearing.

"Oops, I think our friend has woken up." I told Ebenezer with a frown.

"Looks like it." He smirked.

I turned to see her tromping into the camp, hair disheveled and her clothes dirty and she had clumps of dried grass everywhere. Her brown hair was a mess looking like an Aztec head dress in the dark. She turned towards me and I waved at her and smiled politely.

"DIE!" she screamed as she pulled her wand and thrust it towards me.

Alicia grabbed her outstretched wrist and with a twisting motion, spun Fiona around and held her arm behind her back, poking her wand into her own back. It was very Murphy-esq.

"We have a truce. He is our guest for the time being, you will treat him accordingly!" Alicia told her in a smooth calm voice.

"Truce! After what he and his friend did to me! I'll hang them both from their entrails and let the ravens eat their eyes before I let them die!" Fiona screeched.

"That may be mother, but not until after our business is completed." Alicia told her quietly. "Now go and clean up. I need you to be ready for the ceremony." With that she released Fiona and pointed her at another tent set up on the far side of the fire.

"You two should keep your distance from her unless you wish to meet an untimely demise." Alicia said with a slight smile on her face. It was obvious that she took some small pleasure at seeing her mother so agitated. She gave me another glance and shook her head before walking away.

"What was that about?" Ebenezer asked.

"She invited us to join the sorority with full perks. We'd each get a castle and human servants to worship us, blah, blah, blah." I said with a scowl.

Ebenezer simply chuckled and shook his head looking at me like I was crazy.

"Oh by the way, Emily dropped Camilla off earlier and then Emily took off," I said as my mentors eyes widened in surprise and shock. "She said she was going to get a beautiful Chorizo for Alicia. Then they took Camilla to the tent next to the one Fiona is in to get ready." I said with a slight grin.

Ebenezer smiled, "Gotta love them Chorizo's." he said.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

It was dark and cold, the high mountain air pushed across the clearing giving me a shiver. I stuck my hands into the pockets of the duster and found them empty. The necklace, pictures, and my typical spell casting bric-a-brac was missing as well. What I did find, was a bulge in the inside breast pocket of the duster. It turned out to be the envelope of money I had received from Camilla. Well at least that's something as technically I'd finished the job.

I took a few steps past the end of the pickup that was raised about two feet off the ground and had double sets of tires under the bed of the truck. I looked past the large fire and saw an open area, now lit by halogen lights powered by generators set here and there. The main area was bare dirt and there was a large stone altar set up at one end. They had dug about 2 inches into the dirt to create three circles and were placing ceremonial candles and other paraphilia about inside and outside the circles.

This circle was very complex. There was one large circle and then two smaller circles inside the large one. They had used chalk powder to fill in the lines and make the circles etc. and later mixed it with just enough water to form a paste but not let the lines run. There were other places where it looked like they had poured brass, silver or gold into the impressions in the ground or had placed the preformed runes into the ground with just the tops showing as the glint of metal sparkled here and there in the circle. The outer and inner circles as well as runes, sigils and ancient writing around all three circles were almost finished with the last of the window dressings being put into place. It was quite complex and the design itself was very intricate. I had seen similar circles for major summoning's and bindings in Jason Dumont's books when I was younger but never had a need to use one so far. What I did know about these kinds of circles is that they need to be exactly right and when done properly were very powerful.

However one rune done incorrectly or one line improperly drawn could cause a catastrophic failure. The kind where dark ages ensue if the summoned creature isn't properly contained and properly banished afterwards and these guys weren't calling a major nasty from the nevernever, they weren't even trying to call a Queen from Summer or Winter or the Earl King himself, they were trying for a Goddess. This was risky business at best, but their insanity and greed for power fed their vanity and they assured themselves that they were doing the right thing. I shook my head and tried to formulate a plan.

I heard a rustle and feint footsteps next to me and heard a quiet voice near my ear.

"Don't look at me and don't look surprised." The voice of Carlos Ramirez said from my side. "After we arrived they sent a team to seal the cross over point to the ways, they have about forty reds on the other side and a group of mercenaries loaded for bear on this side." He said then, under his near perfect veil, "We're cut off for now, but there should be a detail of wardens coming soon." Then almost as an afterthought he asked, "Where's Molly and the girl?"

I covered my mouth to cough and whispered, "They ran into the forest, but there are reds out there guarding the perimeter." Then coughed again, for real this time as the cold air caught in my lungs at the thought of Molly in the dark surrounded by those creatures. I could hear she was doing well but I wasn't sure how long she could keep it up.

"I'll go get them, Harry. Just sit tight and we'll get out of this." He said as he retreated back into the darkness.

The hair on the back of my neck stood up in a Neanderthal sort of reaction. That was my line, I was the one who did the comforting and pulled other peoples bacon from the fire while they sat idly by. I know it was irrational and I am not above accepting help, but it just irked me.

I walked over to Ebenezer who gave me a quizzical look. I sat next to him and quietly described what had just happened.

Alicia approached both us as we sat talking with our backs against the rear tires of the pickup. She motioned towards us and two mercenaries came over carrying small sub machine guns of Russian design, their body armor was accessorized with a large side arm each, extra clips and spiffy black helmets.

"Your hour is up. I can't have you running off now can I? "She asked with a last smile as she turned to leave." Things are just about to get interesting. If they try to escape shoot them, try not to kill them if you can avoid it." She said to the two men as she walked away.

Just as she rounded the fire her mother came out from her tent in similar black robes.

"Alicia dear," she said stepping in front of her daughter, "We do seem to have a slight problem. Gregario's necklace was never recovered. We have all the other necklaces, but do you think we will be able to accomplish this without his talisman, his family was quite powerful." She asked conspiratorially.

"We have other means to make up for his power. We can use the blood of two powerful wizards. That should more than make up for the loss of his trinket and get them out of the way at the same time." Alicia said with a reassuring smile.

Her mother's face beamed with a smile, "That's perfect my dear and at the same time poetically ironic. The goddess shall rise from the blood of our enemies." Fiona said with a deep theatrical voice and insanity sparkling in her eyes.

"I thought you'd like it mother. Now if you don't mind I need to get Camilla and we need to have everyone gather in the circle to begin." She said straitening her mother's robes, then turning to enter the next tent. Shortly she emerged with Camilla who gave us a brief and frightened look when she saw our condition then fell in behind Alicia heading towards the circle. Mouse poked his head out from under the truck, between Ebenezer and I and laid his head in his paws with a deep sigh.

People were moving towards the circle in the clearing on the far side of the large fire that was set in the center of the many sets of tents that made up their small camp. Black robed figures hurried to the clearing as I noticed Mouse crawl back under the truck. I looked over at Ebenezer who just shrugged and smiled.

Camilla was taken into the circle by Fiona and Alicia as well as three men and two women. They started talking quietly, and then removed their robes, tossing them outside of the circle and invoked the small circle they were standing in. The seven people joined hands in a circle around Camilla and began chanting and moving around her. I couldn't hear everything that was going on but Alicia was asking Camilla questions, then had Camilla repeat something after her, then the people holding hands all moved in and hugged Camilla. There was laughing and hugs as the circle was broken and Camilla was now a fully initiated member of the Sisterhood. As they left the circle and regained their clothing, another member went out and picked up an old fashioned broom, with actual twigs and swept all three circles.

"Any ideas?" I whispered to my mentor seeing that they were just about to start the ceremony.

"We still have some time Hoss. If the wardens don't show up then we ruin the party ourselves." He said quietly with a wry smile.

We were escorted into the circle and were stood near the stone altar at the outer edge of the circle. A group of twelve to fifteen mercenaries were placed around the circle, standing ready and stealing peeks over their shoulder at what was taking place.

The participants gathered around the larger circle and began to chant as Alicia walked counter clockwise around the circle lighting the various candles, filling cups with water and began the invocation of the circle. The smell of diesel smoke drifted through the air and rumbling of the generators drowned out most of the specifics of what was being said as the invocation proceeded.

Finally everyone stepped into the main circle and turned in unison to touch the outer circle and I felt the huge wall of magic spring to life. Then they broke into groups where Camilla, Alicia, Fiona and three others went to the altar, the others went to invoke the other two circles as the ceremony continued. Mouse let out a low growl as the next two circles sprang to life and the runes and writing around them began to give off a slight glow.

Howls, shrieks and screams of rage came from the forest to our left and they seemed to be fairly close by.

Then into the ring of light given off from the large halogen lights on poles placed around the circle Molly and Abbey came sprinting from the forest about fifty yards from the edge of the circle. Their cloths ripped and bloody gashes across Molly's stomach and Abbey's legs. They ran straight for the circle screaming in terror as they ran. Then from the darkness came a large group of red court vampires. Their flesh masks gone, their black rubbery bodies with disproportionately long arms ending in black sharp claws, their jaws open larger than their head should have allowed for rushed forward. Some of the vampires had wounds from minor to possibly serious as they fell towards the back of the pack while the others sprinted at inhumanly fast paces, quickly closing the gap on my apprentice and her friend. The girls were about ten yards from the mercenaries who were gathering in a group, leveling their weapons as the enraged vampires hurtled towards the circle.

Molly and Abbey inexplicably stopped, Molly turned around and tore at the collar of her t-shirt to expose her throat and more cleavage than I was comfortable with while Abbey dropped her pants and bent over to expose her backside to the oncoming horde. Both girls extended their free hands in fists towards the vampires then lifted their middle fingers. The vampires howled in rage as their speed increased as they closed on the two girls.

The first two vampires fell onto the girls with their claws and fangs flashing and swinging with incredible force, except as they touched the girls, they simply vanished in a wisp of glitter offering no physical resistance. The vampire's momentum carried them heavily into the ground, mouths and claws finding nothing but bare earth as they dug into the ground flipping them onto their backs. I believe I heard Molly refer to this later as a face-plant. The others behind them, in a blind rage swarmed over them and into the mercenaries who had opened fire when the girls had disappeared and they were left facing the oncoming hoard.

"Way to go, grasshopper!" is said loud enough for Ebenezer to hear. I didn't hear him chuckle but his face wore a broad smile.

Then from the far side of the tents, there was brilliant flash of white light with a loud blast that sounded like thunder that shook the ground lightly. More gunfire erupted, the small machineguns sounding like small motorcycle engines as they hurled lead and death into the darkness.

As the last mercenary guarding this area fell in a sea of fangs, claws and blood, other vampires tried to jump on the initiates in the circle. However the unseen cylinder of power rising from the circle easily deflected their rush, throwing them back as if they had hit a brick wall. As the last people immediately outside the circle were drained and devoured the vampires began disappear into the darkness one by one, heading towards the gunfire and promise of warm blood.

I turned my attention back to the stone altar. Alicia, Fiona, Camilla and the other three women were all skyclad around the altar. Their eyes were glazing over as they, held their pendants over their heads as if in offering to the sky, mumbling a chant. One of the other circles held seven naked men and women as the other circle was empty and didn't feel as if it had been invoked yet.

Alicia began to speak in a guttural language, gesturing to each of the props that set on the altar. Still holding her necklace high in the air she picked up an athame and began to wave it in a weaving pattern over the altar. Traces of light began to trail behind the tip of the athame as she continued to weave the tip above altar, the wind outside the circle began to shift and blow lightly, sending leaves and dust moving slowly over the ground. I could feel the tension from the power in the huge circle pressing against my skin, tingling. She pointed the athame at each of the pendants in turn and spoke a word as each began to thrum with power and glow as if being awakened. Alicia then sat the athame on the altar. As the medallions began to release their power into the circle I could feel the pressure as if I were under at least ten feet of water, my ears popped and I could feel my own power inside of me pressing against the power in the circle.

The six women walked all turned as one and moved from the altar to the empty circle, five positioning themselves at equidistant spots around the circle while Alicia walked into the circle as the others closed it behind her. The five outside the circle laid their necklaces down so that the medallion was just touching the outside of the circle. They sat up on their knees, hands held high and eyes rolled back into their heads as they chanted louder in the same guttural language that Alicia had used at the altar. I could feel some of the magic and pressure drain into the new circle through the necklaces which continued to glow brighter and thrum with more strength as they released the centuries of owners power into the circle.

Mouse began to growl and his fur began to glow and shimmer as if each strand of his fur had been covered in a light oil. He stood under the altar firmly on all fours and snarled viciously. The Mercenaries kneeled down and began to lower the barrels of their weapons when Mouse turned towards the, teeth bared. As soon as their heads were in full view the dog let out a bark that sounded like a sonic boom exploding from the dog's chest. The sound threw the two men back into a standing stone in front of the altar with enough force to cause the two foot thick, ancient stone to crack under the pressure of their impact. The two men simply fell to the ground limp and bleeding from the ears. "Go Mouse!" I cheered, the sound of my words being lost in the chanting, wind and vibration that was the growl coming from my dog's chest as he turned to face Alicia.

I turned and picked up the machine gun and extra clips from the comatose man closest to me and stepped around the altar. Mouse stepped up to stand beside me and on the other side of Mouse there was Ebenezer armed similarly to myself, except he had a 9mm pistol stuffed into his belt on one side.

"Let's crash this party!" I yelled towards my mentor who just smiled and turned back to the ceremony already in progress.

I had barely gotten the safety turned off when I was hit in the upper chest very hard. I was shoved back into the altar but didn't lose my feet. Fiona was facing me holding her wand and wearing nothing but a hateful smile.

While it's true that one can't cast magic into or out of a circle without first breaking it, you can cast spells that affect those in the circle with you just fine, until the well of power you had built in your circle runs out. There was plenty of power flying around in here to work with and Fiona had just sent some of it my way.

I leveled the barrel and pulled the trigger and felt the heavy vibration as ten to twenty rounds burst from the barrel of the gun. Fiona was holding her wand level to the ground and the tip was pointing away from me at an angle. The bullets got about four feet from her wand and ricocheted out into the night. Mouse now glowing brighter began to snarl a deadly snarl, fangs bared and he crouched as if ready to launch himself forward with all the force he had in his body.

I could see behind Fiona, Alicia was also beginning to glow slightly. A light was coming from the circle and swirling around her, like a deep green mist with a brilliant silver sheen, then coalescing like an aura around her as she and her group continued chanting and she lowered the necklace slowly toward her head. It was hard to make out her details as the light began to grow brighter and her aura began to expand up into the circle.

As the aura grew it began to take a roughly human form. It had long arms and legs, thin but short torso, long hair from its head that wore three faces. Mouse let out, well more of a roar than a bark that shook the air, magic and even caused the circles to shimmer and shiver as he launched himself over Fiona and into the circle with Alicia.

"Be careful Hoss, there's a lot of energy in here!" Ebenezer shouted at me through the din.

Fazore! I shouted as I reached out with my right hand, pushing my anger, will and a little of myself into the blast. A foot wide shaft of light fired from my hand with a loud cracking sound as I felt the power around me hammer into my body as I released the magic. The pain and magnitude of the force being unleashed caused my hand to jerk and go numb. I missed Fiona by about a foot, the bolt ricocheted off the circle behind her, caught her left shoulder on the way back, spinning her violently and throwing her to the ground, it continued past Fiona, between Ebenezer and I as we both jumped back to avoid getting hit. It finally stopped when it hit the two ton top of the altar shattering it to pieces with a loud dull thud.

"Had you joined us Mr. Dresden, you could have wielded this type of power every day." Fiona said with a wicked grin. Her shoulder was pushed forward and down causing her arm to stick out at an odd angle that almost made me gag. The remnants of her bracelet lie under her as she lifted herself to one side.

"Did someone actually tell you this crap or are you just making it up as you go along?" I sneered. "If you really believe that I have some beachfront property in Arizona I'd like to sell you, we can talk bridges later." I yelled into the din.

Her evil grin turned to a pinched faced, narrowed eyed contortion of hate, "Infidel!" She screamed as she fought to bring her wand up from under her body. I pointed the machine gun at her chest and yelled for her to stop but she pulled her wand free and started to turn it on me, its tip glowing scarlet. I squeezed the trigger sending six to ten rounds into her chest, flipping her over onto her back in a spray of blood and gore, her blood quickly pooling around her hips and shoulders as she stopped moving. I replaced my empty clip with a fresh one as she bled out.

I turned and Ebenezer was staring wide eyed at the circle Mouse had just leapt into. I turned to look and saw not just the one fifteen foot glowing aura creature in the circle, but two. Alicia stood facing Mouse, both were hard to see though the glow and haze of power that surrounded them, Alicia in her green and silver mist and Mouse in a golden and silver mist. Above Mouse there was the shape of a humanoid, with six arms, long fangs and it (she?) was not simply grappling with the thing over Alicia, it was giving it a good pounding.

Alicia's goddess was struggling as Mouse's god (thing) held her wrists in two hands. The other four were raking her body with claw like nails extending from her fingers and leaving large gashes across the chest and stomach of Alicia's Goddess and it seemed also on Alicia. The three faces on the head of the goddess screamed in pain. Each face had a different look, one seemed young and wild, the second middle aged and nurturing but extremely protective, the third was old, bitter and cruel. The middle face was facing Mouse's manifestation now, but then the head turned and the older face turned towards it and its eyes flashed with rage and hate. It spat a word at Mouse's God and its head was enveloped in a dark mass. Alicia's goddess shrieked in triumph as the mass extended dark tendrils down and around the body of Mouse's god constricting and pulling its arms against its body. Mouse let out a tortured howl and a mighty bark that caused Alicia to step back, either in fear or the force of the bark.

Mouse's God slid her hands close to her body and up her torso then with a whirling motion lifted the black mass, tearing it from her body and ripping at it as it dispersed into a hazy mist and then was gone.

Then Mouse's god lunged into Alicia's as Mouse rushed Alicia, his god wrapped her goddess in its many arms and used its legs to trip her back into the wall of the circle as its many hands ripped and tore at the glowing flesh on the back and face of the goddess. Meanwhile Mouse sank his teeth deep into the thigh of Alicia and then ripped the leg out from under her, smashing her to the ground. She screamed a horrific scream that seemed to vibrate every atom in my body at the subatomic level, I felt as if my magic, intellect, memory, soul and life was about to be ripped from me and scattered to the winds on the force of her scream.

"Hoss, this has to end NOW or these two may end up disintegrating everything for a hundred miles of here!" Ebenezer yelled, his eyes blood shot and his nose bleeding.

I ran to the circle where the rest of the girls kneeled, hands upraised chanting with their eyes rolled back into their heads. I found Camilla and lifted her by her arm. She shook her head and slowly began to take in what was going on around her and fear jumped onto her face as she saw the two deities battling to destroy each other only feet away from where she stood.

I pushed her towards Ebenezer while hands the size of my chest ripped hair and flesh from the goddess only feet away.

I dropped her medallion to the ground and fired a burst of rounds at it, doing no damage. The bullets seemed to deflect off of it and buried themselves into the ground forming a near perfect circle around it. Running low on options I stepped back, pulling Ebenezer and Camilla with me as I raised my right hand and yelled Feugo! A cone of fire leapt from my outstretched fingers and covered the necklace and about a foot of ground on either side melting the ground into a molten glass. I could feel the power rushing through my body at a rate that was intoxicating and nearly painful. I knew I couldn't keep this up for long so I pushed some soulfire into my arm feeling the pressure in my hand getting stronger as the power coursed through me, bottlenecking in my hand as I couldn't move enough power out as fast as it was hammering into me. The flames went from red to orange with flicks of silver in it and as I felt the power starting to wear at my mind and body with a searing pain, the pendant exploded. It burst with a roar as a shockwave of pent up magical energy broke, unbridled into the circle. I dropped my spell with a great effort, closing the conduit to my power and the outside as I felt my body flying through the air.

I landed with a heavy thump on the hard ground and heard gasps around me as Camilla and Ebenezer were both as dazed and winded as I was. My head pounded with pain and my hand felt like I had just pulled it out from under a roaster, every breath hurt with a searing, stinging sensation as if feeling pain for the first time. I tried to block it out and regain my composure. I was a wizard after all and had a reputation to keep up, especially in front of Ebenezer. So I pushed back the pain and sucked in a breath of air and pushed myself up to a sitting position and then stood. Not surprisingly Ebenezer was on his feet before I was.

Around me there was wind, lightning was starting to flash in the skies and strike very near where we were and the ground held a tension like it was holding too much pressure. Magic blew in gales, glowing and shimmering around the inner circle, two more of the necklaces had ruptured leaving large holes in the ground but not breaking the circle they were next to. The centuries of magic was running wild and as it was contained in a small area the pressure was building.

"We have to send them back!" I yelled at Ebenezer. "I've never sent anything through the outer gates before…"

"I have," said a calm voice from behind me. I turned and there stood a tall figure in a black hooded cloak, he usually had a gnarled staff, but this time he had a staff of what appeared to be molten silver, platinum and gold flowing through the shape of the staff, tipped with a huge diamond. I've seen Rashid (a.k.a. The Gatekeeper) in many places and most of them odd and unexpected, but this time I was more happy than surprised to see him. Ebenezer turned to see what I was looking at and when he saw the gatekeeper standing behind us all he did was spit on the ground to his right and say, "It's about damned time you got here!" Then smiled to himself as he turned back to watch the show his machine gun hanging from his shoulder and arms crossed across his chest.

The gatekeeper turned and walked over to the shattered altar and picked up the athame, which got an immediate response from Alicia. She had been fighting to get Mouse off of her and pry his jaws off of her leg, when the gate keeper touched the athame, he head jerked to the altar.

"No, you can't, there's too much power here, you'll destroy us all!" she screamed at Rashid, who only looked at her and smiled.

He began to weave the athame and his staff in the air in front of him as traces of light began to coalesce in front of him. Mouse released Alicia and turned to look our direction as did his manifested deity. Alicia and her Goddess lay severely wounded and hardly able to move as Rashid began to chant in a lyrical language, it sounded like a poem or psalm in another language. As he continued I felt him draw tremendous amounts of magic into him and the pattern before him began to solidify into the form of a set of gates. He continued to chant only louder and with the athame he made a vertical cut down the center of the gates and a push from his staff and they swung open. Inside the gateway there was a dark and gray mass of swirling mist, with brilliant flashes of light and inhuman shrieks and screams that could tear apart not only a person's mind and body but the very reality about them.

Mouse let out a shrieking howl as he lay on the ground, his deity shrinking and dissipating into mist as he shook violently. As the last of the mist dissipated from Mouse he leapt out of the circle and collapsed onto the turf next to me.

Rashid then thrust both of his hands out towards the circle containing Alicia and her goddess holding the last word of his chant making a humming sound. As the gates flew from in front of him, growing and widening as they went the resonance of his voice and power in the circle began to quiver in sympathy with his tone. When the gates hit the outside of the circle holding Alicia and her goddess it shattered like thin glass and her goddess tried to escape, the gates enveloped her and then slammed shut with a thunderous roar and then they too were gone. The Gatekeeper slipped the athame into his robes as a slight smile played on his face.

Over my shoulder I could see Carlos, Molly and Abby backing away from the circles wide eyed and frightened. I didn't blame them. We had gotten rid of our unearthly guests but we were nearing what I assumed to be critical mass for the amount of magic that one area could contain before something bad happened.

Coming up behind Carlos and Molly I saw two figures in long black robes, staves held at the ready and purple mantles over their shoulders. Ebenezer looked over at them and grimaced.

"Looks like we got us a party now, Hoss." He said pushing his thumb at the new arrivals, a large group of people wearing gray cloaks fanning out from behind them and advancing on our position.

"How are we going to diffuse the power without killing everyone in the circle?" I shouted at Ebenezer and the gatekeeper. "We can't get anyone out without breaking the circle and with this much power, the sudden release would be like a setting off an A bomb." I yelled.

"You just need the right spell, Hoss." Ebenezer said with a smile. "Tell those people to stay in their circle and you go with Camilla and Mouse into the one that broke and see if you can't raise it again." He shouted back.

I grabbed Camilla and shouted for Mouse as I staggered into the, gale of pure magical forces playing in the circle. Camilla crossed the line into the circle and I told her to look for a break in the circle sending her one way as I turned to go to the people in the other circle. It was then that I noticed that Mouse hadn't moved. I turned to my dog, he lay there his eyes barely open, covered with sweat so that his fur was all matted and stuck to his body. I could see that he was breathing but in strained and convulsive breaths. I ran to his side, my vision becoming blurry as something hot ran down my cheek.

"Mouse!" I yelled as I scooped his ten pound head into my lap. I looked into the narrow slits that hid his large deep brown eyes and then they rolled showing only white as he coughed hard splattering my hands with blood, then his breathing became shallow and labored.

"Hoss, get to the circle, I have to do this NOW!" Ebenezer yelled.

Ebenezer waved his hand and a black cloud appeared in front of him and coalesced into a gnarled black staff in his fist. He stood still for a moment surveying the scene, mentally thumbing through his spell book for just the right spell.

"I can't leave him, sir!" I shouted burying my face in the thick mane of fur around his neck. He was not just a dog, he was MY FRIEND! He was smarter than most people I knew and was a hell of a better person than the majority of mortals I knew, with very few exceptions. He was Murphy, but male with fur. He was fearless, indestructible and faithful, he deserved better and I would be damned if I was going to let him die alone!

The gatekeeper moved over to where Camilla was standing and raised the circle, blocking out the gale of magic gone wild, surging around and through my body. I was in serious pain, my mind had been stretched to its limits then suddenly deflated and felt like a stretched out sweat shirt. My body, well the places that didn't hurt were much smaller and fewer than those that didn't. I didn't notice as Ebenezer ran his staff around where Mouse and I were rolled together into a ball of lanky wizard and wet fur. I felt the circle spring up around me and suddenly all went silent. The pressure that was burning into my skin and brain was suddenly gone.

I looked up into the night sky and saw constellations that I hadn't seen in many years. Suddenly the pain of my past burned up from my soul. I had lost my parents. I never knew my mother and the only happy memories of my childhood were with my father for the short time we were together before he died. My first love had to go into hiding when I killed the one person who was supposed to be helping us but instead he was a monster wanting to feed on our power. The only other person I was ever in love with was Suzan who I failed to protect and is now a half vampire, because I was stupid. Now we could never be together again.

I had no idea how important Mouse was to me until I saw the blood leaking from his jowels as his breathing slowed and his body went limp. He was the one who was there and never asked for a thank you. He was the one that was there for me when I needed to tell someone all the things I would never admit to anyone else. He was next to me whenever I was sick or hurt or hurting inside. Mouse always had a way to make everything better. Then when I needed to venture into the darkness and unknown full of things that wanted to kill or eat me or worse, he was by my side letting me know that someone had my back.

I turned my head once again to the sky and imagined heaven floating unseen in the firmament. "YOUCAN'T HAVE HIM!" I shouted. "He Deserves BETTER!" I screamed pouring my rage, fear and pain into my words. "For all the good he's done here tonight, for everything he's meant to me, everything he's taught me, Please, Don't Take him!" I screamed as my vision blurred and I felt tears streaming uncontrollably down my face as I buried it once again in the back of his neck. I couldn't blink them away fast enough as sat there shaking and hurting. I could barely feel his chest move as he tried to breath and heard the gurgling sounds in his chest as air fought its way into his lungs.

I don't know if the voice came from heaven, my head, over my shoulder or what, but it was there, it was undeniable and it wasn't mine. The voice was soft, male and was tinged with compassion and a sense of knowing and all it said was, "He's strong. Don't write him off just yet Harry. By the way, no charge." The voice trailed off with a chuckle and was gone. Archangels can be funny sometimes. Last time I talked to him I tried to bill him, now I felt I owed him one as a piece of my chest that had grown cold and dormant due to years of neglect seemed to get a spark of life. It glowed in my chest like a tiny candle, because I now had faith that he would keep his word and that Mouse would be okay. Michael will never let me hear the end of this. I lifted my head to see what was happening.

Ebenezer lifted his staff into the air and he began to pull the gales of magic into the staff, it began to glow with a blue aura as he mumbled words in a language I didn't know. I could feel the power pulling from the ground and saw it began to swirl around him like a whirlwind at first, and then growing larger and stronger until his feet left the ground. His voice rising above the din he was shouting and holding his staff with both hands to keep it from being torn from his grasp and still the vortex grew stronger, obscuring him from view. It began to move as his voice was lost in the maelstrom. He finally threw his hands apart over his head and fell to the earth, bringing his staff down over the line of the outer circle as his voice disappeared up into the sky with the vortex he had been containing with his will.

The vortex shot up into the air, higher and higher, seeming to continue to grow and become stronger as it lifted into the night sky, pulling the residual magic in the clearing with it. When it was barely in sight, a bright swirling blue disk, there was a horrific roar. The vortex exploded and lit up the entire sky from horizon to horizon in a blinding white light.

The light stabbed into my eyes like daggers. When my vision cleared again I could see Ebenezer lying on the ground with his back to me. His chest was heaving and his body twitching. I broke the circle I was in and rushed over to him, each step sending a symphony of pain through my body.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

As I came near, I circled around his feet and kneeled at his side and saw a wide grin across his face and he was laughing hysterically, holding his free arm around his chest as if in pain. He was weak so I helped him to sit upright, while he continued to laugh loudly.

I was starting to wonder if channeling that much power had fried his brain or maybe set him a little off balance.

"Sir, SIR! Are you okay?" I asked firmly, watching his eyes focus on me.

He slapped me on the shoulder with a hoot and grabbed the lapel of my duster and pulled me close.

"Boy! I'm Fine!" He almost yelled turning to look over his shoulder as the members of the senior council began to gather slowly around us.

"Ebenezer McCoy, why do you laugh?" asked Joseph Listens to Wind (a.k.a. Injun Joe).

"You owe me some healing lessons!" Ebenezer said over his shoulder as he began to get control of his emotional high.

"Why would you think this?" Listens to Wind asked looking thoughtfully at Ebenezer as if he still wasn't sure if he had gone insane.

"Because, I just fixed the Ozone Layer! You bet me I couldn't do it!" Ebenezer roared. "I can't wait to see what those pencil necks at NASA will have to say about this! The scientists will be scratching their heads over this one for YEARS!" He said rolling back to his side laughing very pleased with himself.

Listens to wind smirked and waved his hand at McCoy, "The hillbilly is fine, let's see about your apprentice." He said to me. Then he turned and left the circle shaking his head.

I patted McCoy on the shoulder and said, "Good job sir!" Then I got up and shuffled my way after the ancient Indian wizard.

Ramirez, Molly and Abbey were about two hundred yards away sitting against a fallen ancient oak tree. It stood a good seven feet off the ground on its side. The three sat there with their backs to the tree. Molly and Abbey had nasty gashes and their clothes were ripped up pretty bad. Both were showing more skin than I was comfortable seeing in the cold night air. They looked completely exhausted and were running on the last of the adrenaline rush and nervous energy.

Listens to Wind went to work cleaning and dressing their wounds as Ramirez and I walked back to the circles to give them some privacy. He filled me in on what had happened. Hearing Molly screaming a short distance into the forest he ran into the forest to find her and ran face first into an ancient oak she had veiled to slow down the reds that had been chasing her. She had pulled him into her veil and they hatched a plan to pull the vampires into the mercenaries, while dodging them and sending them chasing phantom sounds deeper into the forest. It seems that in the dim light illusions were fairly easy since they couldn't see too much anyway. Molly had held the vampires at bay by veiling trees rocks, making sheer drop-offs appear to be smooth ground and the like.

Although she used very little offensive magic, she had run more than one into broken tree branches, impaling them, blinded others with bright flashing lights and confusing them with loud sounds coming from all directions. A few went over the edge of a 300' cliff and then she cast the illusion of her and abbey on two of the vampires causing the others to tear them to shreds. In short she kept the red court goons running in circles for most of the night.

So when she gave the impression that she was making a break for the other wizards and the circle for safety, they followed enraged and thirsting for blood. Once they had fallen on the guards, Carlos veiled them, and stashed Abbey in a tent. Then he and Molly went to the guards protecting the ways and cast illusions of three screeching reds attacking them from the tree line. When the real vampires showed up half of the soldiers didn't bother to fire thinking they would simply vanish as the others had, giving the vampires an easy time with them.

When the wardens opened the ways they found very few vampires left and only the remains of the guards scattered across a large portion of the field. The wardens mopped up what was left and came across Carlos, Abbey and Molly, regrouped just outside the camp.

By the time Carlos and I made it back to the camp, the wardens had rounded up the members of the sisterhood and had them shackled and standing together near the fire. I heard Ebenezer's voice coming from one of the tents with a woman in shackles standing outside. It was Camilla. She had been given her black robe to wear and was standing with her head down. Her dark hair hid her face.

"Camilla, what's going on?" I asked, pushing some of her hair out of her face and over her ear.

"They think I'm one of them Harry. Your friend is trying to explain things but it's not going well." She said, her eyes red and the silver lines from tears in the light running down her cheeks.

"Let me see what I can do." I said, "Technically I'm still on the clock." I told her with a smile wiping away a tear from her cheek.

The tent fell silent as Carlos and I entered the room. Ebenezer and the Merlin were standing facing each other, both looked flushed.

"Dresden, before you start, I have it on good authority that she has participated in black magic with her cousin." The Merlin started. "Together they have tortured and enthralled numerous people and killed others. Nothing you can say can justify that behavior." He finished directing the last part at both Ebenezer and I.

"_She_ was enthralled. Her cousin entered her mind and _compelled _her." I said flatly. "She's a _victim_ here not the _perpetrator_." I said as if talking to a small child.

"Am I supposed to take your word for it Warden Dresden?" He snarled. "You already have one warlock under your wing, how many are you planning on collecting?" he sneered. I had to fight to keep my hands, unconsciously balled in to tight fishts, at my side as anger burned across my face and deep in my belly.

Ebenezer's face went flat and his fingers went white on his black staff as he took a deep breath, his eyes narrowing. This was not lost on the Merlin who for the first time since I've known him looked cautious.

"Soul gaze her." Ebenezer said in a deep monotone. "She's a good girl and deserves a chance. Don't you have enough warlocks to _kill_ tonight?" he asked his gaze going into and through the Merlin's head. I've been on the receiving end of one of those stares and can tell you from personal experience they aren't as pleasant as they sound.

The Merlin's face glowed deep red at this and now it was his turn to take a moment to take a deep breath before continuing. "I see no need. She was participating in this ritual tonight after her cousin was dispatched, isn't that right Warden Ramirez?" he growled.

"Well, actually sir." Carlos started off sheepishly. "I brought her here to try to find McCoy and Dresden. She offered to sneak into the camp and help gather information when I tried to stash her in a safe house. She was very brave." He said honestly. "It worked, because she let Dresden and McCoy know I was here before I had a chance to sneak into camp and make contact. Also I saw her give Harry her necklace during the ceremony so he could destroy it and give us the chance to drive that thing back beyond the outer gates." He finished.

Merlin looked at Carlos, then me then McCoy. His mouth clamped tightly shut, but his eyes were saying, "But, but, but…"

"Sir, let me soul gaze her, if she's beyond help, I'll dispatch her myself." another voice came from the door of the tent, flat, cold and tempered with a sense of duty mixed with grim determination. Captain Luccio stood behind me, her shoulders squared and her jaw set. Her golden curls fell about her face like a cascade of gold around her delicate features.

"Captain Luccio, you saw what I saw here tonight. You've seen the reports, how can you stand there and defend the girl?" The Merlin asked flabbergasted.

"I'm not defending her sir, but we have two wardens and a senior council member standing here pleading her case. I think it would be prudent to look into their claims. If nothing else, we'll have done due diligence and they will have nothing to complain about if she's found guilty." The captain said coolly giving me a flat look with one eyebrow raised.

I know Anastasia Luccio, she fair and even handed and like Murphy she takes her duty seriously. She also knows me and thinks my history can cloud my judgment in cases like this. However, with McCoy and Ramirez standing next to me, she knew that there was more than my history at work here and wasn't about to let an innocent die.

The Merlin had been boxed into a corner and he didn't like it. "What if she isn't guilty but still damaged?" He asked. "She has a strong gift and if her mind is impaired, without anyone to watch her and train her then she's too large of a threat to let run loose." He finished.

"She lives in my district sir," Carlos piped up, "I can look in on her on a regular basis." He said with a trace of a smile on his face.

"Her mind isn't damaged that badly, she'll recover rather quickly with rest and meditation, I think." Another voice came from the doorway as listens to wind slipped into the tent giving me a wink. "I just checked her over, her physical wounds will leave deeper scars than what her cousin has done to her, I think." He told the Merlin.

"Sir, she didn't even know she was a wizard until today." I said in a bottom line voice, "If you ask her she would probably rather renounce her powers than go into training." I said earnestly.

"I don't know…" the Merlin mumbled.

"If she agrees, make her take an oath and put her under the Doom of Damocles. Problem solved." McCoy said, knowing that logically there was little that the Merlin could say to that.

"Luccio, you do the Soul Gaze and if you believe that there is a strong chance that she can be rehabilitated as they have said, then bring her to me. Otherwise, you know what to do." He finished on a grim note and turned and blustered out of the door.

Luccio turned on her heel and followed him out of the tent.

"You can't keep antagonizing him, you know." Listens to wind said looking at me then McCoy. "You know he won't put up with this for long before he finds a way to get to you. He isn't the Merlin for his charm and wit." He said solemnly then put his hand on my shoulder. "You did a good thing here tonight so my guess is that he will give you a pass this time." Then turning to McCoy, "But I would tread lightly for a while if I were either of you." He said with a smile and then turned towards the door.

"Warden Dresden," he said stopping at the flaps of the doorway, "You have a remarkable dog, where did you find him?" He asked.

"He found me, sir." I told him honestly.

Mouse! In all the commotion I had left him in the circle!

"I have to go." I said turning towards the door as Mouse's head poked in through the door flaps of the tent. His tongue flopped lazily out of his mouth as he hobbled over to me and lay down stiffly at my feet putting his head on his paws and leaning against my leg.

I kneeled down and scratched the matted fur behind his ears and looked at McCoy both shocked and amazed.

"How? You saw him sir? How did he…" I stammered.

"Hoss, he just channeled a Hindu deity that beat the snot out of an Eastern European Goddess. With all the power flying around out there it's the fact that he healed himself that amazes you?" he asked shaking his head with a laugh. He bent down and petted Mouse's back and patted him on the head. "He's one hell of a friend, son. I'd make sure he gets treats for the rest of the year if I were you."

At this Mouse closed his eyes and began to breathe deeply and then after a few minutes he began to snore loudly as I sat petting his neck and back.

I learned shortly thereafter that Camilla had been taken to the Merlin, McCoy and Listens to wind to determine her fate. She had opted to renounce her powers, as she had never used them anyway and agreed to monthly check-ins with Carlos for the foreseeable future. When she was released Carlos was tasked with making sure she was delivered safely to her home, which didn't seem to bother Carlos one little bit.

* * *

I was woken up by the sound of banging on my new front door about noon the next day.

I rolled out of bed in my boxer shorts, grabbed my robe off the bathroom door and tied it around me as I limped to the door, each step sending jarring pain through my entire, stiff, sore, body.

I had driven Molly and Abbey to Mollies parents' house when we got back in the wee hours of the morning. I expected to see Charity and Michael on my step sometime today looking for answers.

I lifted the little cover and peeked through the peep hole to see Murphy standing outside my door with a bag and two paper cups in a cardboard holder. "Heaven" I thought to myself as I unlatched the three deadbolts and pulled the three quarter inch thick steel slide rods from the top and bottom of the door that Michael had installed for Molly's safety as well as my own.

**Note to self:** Call Michael and see if I can come over and explain around dinner time. It's Saturday and that means Pot Roast and Potatoes.

"Hey Murphy, what can I do for you?" I asked.

"You can let me in for starters." She said shaking the bag of donuts temptingly with an impish smile.

I swung the door open and wide almost effortlessly and silently as it was hung perfectly on heavy duty hinges by a master carpenter.

After she entered I closed the door with a bit of a bang as I'm used to putting my bodyweight into closing the door. It latched firmly in place without even a rattle and I locked the top deadbolt and followed Murphy into my living room.

"I like the new door. Did Michael do that for you?" She asked.

"What makes you think I didn't do it?" I asked indignantly.

"It was done right, there's no pile of debris all over the place and your thumbs arn't bandaged." She said with a smile.

"Ya Michael did it yesterday. He's going to finish it later today." I said just now remembering our conversation from the day before.

"So what went down last night?" Murphy asked.

As I opened my mouth to answer another knock came at my door, this one quieter but with purpose.

I hobbled over to the doorway and before I could lift the cover on the peep hole a voice on the other side said, "It's ME Harry." Michael said in a firm but friendly tone. I opened the door to see Michael, Molly and Charity standing on my step.

Michael had a smile on his face, Molly looked nervous and Charity looked positively furious.

"Um come on in." I said.

Michael handed me a thermos, Charity shoved a plate of wonderful smelling food covered in aluminum foil into my chest and Molly gave me a sheepish look as they came into my home.

I juggled the things in my hands, closing the door with my foot and then reaching over to lock the door.

I set the plate on the counter by my sink as I followed the Carpenters into my living room.

"Hello Sergeant Murphy. I can't say I'm surprised to see you here," Charity said glaring at me. "I can only assume you're here on official business." She said as she sat in the straight backed chair next to the snoring mound of fur by the fireplace.

"Um, not exactly, just following up on a ruckus at lake shore park from yesterday." She said giving me a tentative look.

"Can you arrest him for taking our daughter out of the country and putting her life at risk?" Charity blurted out, bringing a look of terror to Molly's face and a grimace to Michaels.

"Molly is over 18 so technically there isn't much I can do unless he took her by force." She said. As they discussed the conditions under which I could be incarcerated, I slipped into my bedroom and pulled on my black jeans, socks and an old Tom Petty t-shirt before rejoining the party.

From there it went into a round robin discussion, sometimes heated, about every detail of what happened the night before. When we got to the part where Mouse fought off an ancient Goddess, Charity moved to sit next to her husband, giving Mouse suspicious looks.

By the time we were done it was nearing three o'clock and we had finished off the thermos of coffee and bag of donuts. Michael's men had arrived and were finishing up installing the door.

I assured Charity and Michael that I had no intention of ever fighting a deity, ancient or otherwise ever again. Having explained that I had every intention of delivering Molly and Abbey to their house last night, before we were jumped, they both accepted my explanation and apology and let the matter be.

They informed me that due to her experiences over the last few days, Abbey had called her parents and was currently on a bus back to Iowa. She asked the Carpenters to be sure to thank me for what I had done for her and that she would call me herself when she was home safely. Then they left after extending an invitation for me and Murphy to join them for dinner.

Murphy looked impressed and lingered after Molly left with her parents, hovering close to me.

"So you banished a Goddess, rounded up a group of Warlocks and saved the world once again from maniacal, magical mayhem?" She asked teasingly.

"And slavery!" I added with a grin. "In all honesty, I was there but I didn't do half of the heavy lifting." I said shrugging.

"Still, saving the world and all," She said smiling and taking her leather jacket off and lying it across the back of my couch. "That deserves a back rub." She said with a devilish smile, leading me to the front of the couch and gently pushing me back to the floor. She helped lift off my t-shirt and gasped at the scars and bruises. "Dresden, I knew you'd been in a few scrapes, but these scars on your chest and back..."

"Some are new, but most are from my old teacher, Justin." I told her, tracing some of the more memorable scars with my finger.

She rolled me onto my stomach and reached into her purse for a small bottle, "You told me he was a monster, but Harry, you never said..."

"Some things are best left in the past." I replied as I stretched my long lanky arms and lets out with a gratifying pop. "So do I get the back rub or not?"

As I lay on my stomach with my hands stretched over my head, Murphy sat on my legs, her thighs felt warm along my hips as she kneeled to lean over me and began to pour baby oil liberally over my back and then pushed gently into my skin as she smoothed it out all over my back.

"God Murphy, that feels _so_ good!" I groaned in pleasure as she pressed her hands into my back and began working out the knots and bulges.

From somewhere below me I heard a familiar voice say, "Way to go, Harry!"


End file.
